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The Meaning of Obama's Mideast Trip

(Council on Foreign Relations) Robert M. Danin - The president is going to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, a very symbolic and important move. One of the criticisms leveled against the president is that in his previous speeches, he always rooted his discussions about Israel in terms of the Holocaust, and Israel as the haven for the Jewish people as a result of the Holocaust. Israelis took issue with this, because they felt that it shortchanged the real, more fundamental reason for Israel, which is the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. By visiting the Dead Sea scrolls, which is the most tangible physical manifestation of the ancient Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, he's shifting the narrative and acknowledging that in fact Israel was about the Jewish people's connection to this area, and not just as a safe haven from persecution in the twentieth century. The writer is a senior fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at CFR.
2013-03-19 00:00:00
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