Some Cairo Speech Reactions

M.J. Rosenberg thinks the speech brought out eight distinct messages, with one of them being “We are committed to Israel and to Palestine.” Adam Serwer takes the same section on Palestinian moral obligations that also caught my attention and writes:

A white president could say this. But it really wouldn’t have as much meaning. The President is himself, a fruit of that very struggle, so what could come across as a rhetorical point is instead full of the promise embodied by the man giving the speech. He’s living proof of the success of nonviolent resistance. Those who were once slaves can now be presidents.

Perhaps inevitably, Ira Stoll didn’t like anything that suggested Israel might have oppressed the Palestinians during almost 42 years of occupation.