Jerusalem – Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama toured Israel’s Holocaust memorial Wednesday, laying a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jews who died and saying, “Ultimately, this is a place of hope.”
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Obama toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on a Jerusalem hillside as he moved through a busy day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Democratic nominee-in-waiting is on a tour of the Mideast and Europe, a journey financed by his campaign and designed to reassure skeptical voters back home of his ability to serve as commander in chief and guide diplomacy after eight years of the Bush administration.
Obama drew an unusually warm welcome from Israeli President Shimon Peres, who said his greatest wish is for a “great president of the United States. That is the greatest promise for us and the rest of the world.”
“God bless you,” said the 85-year-old fixture of Israeli politics, who joked that he was speaking as one young man to another. Obama is 46.
At the Holocaust memorial, Obama wore a white skullcap as he laid a wreath in memory of the victims of the Nazis.
Later, he said: “I am always taken back to sort of the core question of humanity that the Holocaust raises. That is, on the one hand, man’s great capacity for evil, and on the other hand, our ability to come together to stop evil.”
He added, “So despite this record of monumental tragedy this ultimately is a place of hope because it reminds us of our obligations and responsibilities hopefully to raise a better future for our children and our grandchildren.” He said he hoped he could bring his two young daughters with him on his next trip.
In signing the guestbook, he wrote, “May we remember those who perished, not only as victims but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit.”
Aides said that while at the Holocaust Memorial, Obama met briefly with Aml Ganim, the Israeli border police officer who shot and killed the Palestinian man who used a bulldozer Tuesday to try and overturn cars outside the King David Hotel.
What did he tell the border cop? “I understand your right to defend yourself and your people in your national homeland against those who are avenging acts of aggression by your people against their people in their national homeland”?
He’s trying to have it both ways.
Psst: Hey, Obama! You can’t! And nobody I know is voting for you.
I don’t want to second guess his (Obama) sincerity or doubt him, BUT he has friends and advisors who would Not be bothered by, and in some cases relish the idea of another Holocaust (G-D Forbid). Mcain is a proven friend, this is Not a time to experiment with a relative newcomer,with dubious credentials, regardless of his splendid pronouncements (subject to change, depending on which audience he is in front of at the time> Interesting to see what he tells his Palestinian audience.
I want to vomit. Obama doesn’t believe a word he says, he’s just a magnetic, dynamic orator.
So was Hitler.
Does any body really think that Obama’s visit
to Israel will bring him American votes ?
Can someone explain what this visit will bring to Obama ?
Grow up, stop whining and using hitler’s name to make a point. If a man speaks respectfully then we should respect him.
Thinker,
The point of Obama’s visit to Israel is that when someone is seeking national office they are not only going to be dealing with domestic issues, but foreign as well. This visit, along with his visits to Afghanistan and Iraq are absolutely necessary in order for a candidate to become familiar with issues that come up every single day in the office he is seeking.
NOT visiting would be something I’d ask questions about.
unless he’s a baal teshuva his past associations with known anti semites and anti israel must be explained you cant wash 20 years of being friends with an openly pro arab anti israel anti jew etc
away with a visit to the kotel and yad veshaym just because you want to be elected pres of the usa
keep your comments to yourself.
BOGUS! BOGUS! BOGUS!
Lets see
Obama has an unproven track record
Panders to whatever special interest he is speaking to at any given moment
No international experience
No economic leadership
Associated with controversial people
Flip Flopping on all major issues
Bottom line this guy is a joke
To American citizen
Do we have any better (bitter) choices ?
To American citizen,
Can’t explane myself better!!!
So the Bush family can have close ties with familes like the Bin Ladens, make billions from the Saudis, and from Dhubai. They can set up Hamas in power, call for Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 borders, bring in people like Baker who is virulently anti-Jewish and you say Obama is the problem? You have the hatefulness to compare him to Hitler y’m when the man is standing in Israel trying to learn and to be respectful? You perpetuate the lies that he’s a Muslim and antisemite and advocate voting for a flipflopping incompetent like McCain who is prostituting himself to the far right?
Some people never learn.
Who brought Bush into this??? Obama is a brilliant orator…his fluency and the timbre of his voice make him magnetic. Hitler was the same. Like it or not, that is a historical fact. And like Hitler, Obama is appealing to the masses at a time of great financial instability.
The difference is that whereas in 1932 there was no problem blaming a country’s ills on any one group, that cannot be done in 2008. So all you Obama fans, just realise you are as sucked into the hype and myth as were regular Germans in the 1930’s.
If he wins G-d forbid (and I can’t stand McCain either) this country will never be the same.
You don’t like the truth? Tough!
Regardless of what the Democrats on the left say, including many Jews who have their heads stuck in the sand, Bush was a great friend to Israel. Compare him to the anti semite Peanut Farmer Carter. Barack Hussein Obama will be a Carter vis a vis Israel if he is elected.
WOW! This Muslim got so much respect in Israel… NICE!
i am suprized that he met with the soldire guess he did not want to meet the settler hero
He could have used a smaller, darker yarmulke….Listen- obviously there is something about this guy that many people are uncomfortable with-for good reason. Anybody who makes me squirm when I look at him- well, that ain’t the guy for me
The Jews own Obama. Just look at his cabinet appointees now…Rahm Emmanuel for Chief of staff for example. he is Jew, holds dual citizenship and never served in a US army but served in Israel army. Consider Emmanuel’s father’s racist comment about him not being an Arab and not going to clean the white house floors. he is also a known Mossad spy who was involved in using Monica Lewinsky to set up Bill Clinton. Look out Michelle Obama!
Consider his defense secretary, his treasury guy..all these people are corrupt, they want more war and were involved in the financial meltdown. Why does the one who promised Americans less war now have war loving men as his right hand men? jail the treasury guy for his role in the economic crisis.
Obama Messiah? I think not. Americans have been officially duped. Some change alright….