The Israel Project: A lot to celebrate, but also cause for concern

The Israel Project says there a lot in Obama’s "bold" speech "for Americans and Muslims to celebrate," but "a number of points caused concern about Israel’s security."

"I am very concerned about President Obama’s comments that Iran has a right to nuclear materials for energy given the dangerous fact that some of those materials could get into the hands of terrorists including Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad," said The Israel Project founder and president Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi.

She added, "President Obama’s speech did not convey a sense of urgency on stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons – although it is clear he does share the goal of preventing a weaponized nuclear Iran."

The Israel Project Founder and President Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi commented on President Obama’s Cairo address: “President Obama’s speech was historic in its bold outreach to Muslims and in its dramatic move for peace. There is a lot in the speech for Americans and Muslims to celebrate.”

A number of points, however, caused concern about Israel’s security. Said Mizrahi, “While we knew Israelis would feel pressured about implementing a two-state solution and stopping settlements, I am very concerned about President Obama’s comments that Iran has a right to nuclear materials for energy given the dangerous fact that some of those materials could get into the hands of terrorists including Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”

Mizrahi added, “President Obama’s speech did not convey a sense of urgency on stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons – although it is clear he does share the goal of preventing a weaponized nuclear Iran. We can’t forget that North Korea’s program started as an energy program and now they are actively testing nuclear weapons in defiance of the United States. We cannot afford for this to happen with Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.”

Mizrahi said President Obama’s speech also denied basic facts about key security issues and omitted important aspects of today’s realities, including, she said:

• “The fact that until peace is real, President Obama’s goal of a completely nuclear-free world is not consistent with Israel’s need to at least have the impression that it might have nuclear weapons for defensive purposes. We know that deterrence saves a lot of lives.

• “The fact that President Obama did not mention that Israel has said that they don’t want to govern Palestinians and do want to create a better life for the Palestinian people within the context of their own security needs.

• “The fact that President Obama spoke rightly of the suffering of Palestinian refugees without, however, remembering that approximately the same number of Jewish refugees were pushed out of Arab countries.

• “The fact that President Obama didn’t point out that Jewish refugees have gone, and should continue to go, to Israel whereas Palestinians refugees should find their homes in a Palestinian homeland.”

Mizrahi said President Obama should have mentioned that not only does Iran-backed Hamas control all of Gaza, Hamas’s own charter calls for killing Jews: “The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!” It also states: “The indoctrination campaign must involve ulama, educators, teachers and information and media experts, as well as all intellectuals, especially the young people and the sheikhs of Islamic movements. It is [also] necessary to introduce essential changes in the curricula, in order to eliminate the influences of the intellectual invasion which were inflicted upon them by the Orientalists and the missionaries.”