"Obama not hating the Arabs enough for AIPAC"

jg40 on MyDD:

It's amazing to me that simply showing compassion for Palestinians is enough to set off alarms for some supporters of Israel. It's not that what Obama said isn't true, but how dare he actually say out loud that he gives a damn about some 'dirty' Arabs!

http://www.fox28.com/News/index.php?ID=1 5156

Obama Statement Questioned
An Iowa Democrat says Senator Barack Obama's statement that the Palestinians are suffering needs clarification.

David Adelman is a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies in support of a strong relationship between the United States and Israel. He wants Obama to explain the remark he made Sunday to a small group of Democratic activists in Muscatine, Iowa.

Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama, says the senator's comments were consistent with his previous statements.

Vietor says Obama has always said the security of Israel should be America's starting point in the Middle East. He adds Obama believes the Palestinian people are suffering from the Hamas-led government's refusal to renounce terrorism and join as a real partner in the peace process.

And then there's this article which is just sad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/us/14a ipac.html?r=2&oref=slogin&oref= slogin
Clinton and Obama Court Jewish Vote

(excerpt)
Mr. Obama, meanwhile, is making a personal overture to Jewish voters that threads together history from slavery to the Holocaust to Jim Crow. Yet he is also talking about the needs of the Palestinians. Less experienced than Mrs. Clinton in the thicket of Jewish and Middle Eastern politics, he became a bit tangled in the eyes of some voters during his appearance Monday at the same conference that Mrs. Clinton attended, a forum sponsored by the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as Aipac.

Several Jewish conferencegoers said they were concerned by Mr. Obama's remark Sunday in Iowa where, in a reference to the Middle East, he said, "Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people." According to The Des Moines Register, Mr. Obama put the blame on the stalled peace efforts with Israel and on the refusal of the Palestinian government to renounce terrorism.

Mr. Obama has said in the past that both Israelis and Palestinians had "suffered" because of the lack of a peace agreement, and a spokesman said on Tuesday that Mr. Obama believed "the security of Israel should be America's starting point in the Middle East." Yet by singling out Palestinian suffering on Sunday, Mr. Obama could be tempting fate with some Jewish voters.

"Awarding first place in the suffering matrix is odious and infelicitous," said Rabbi Steven Silver of Redondo Beach, Calif., after listening to Mrs. Clinton speak at a reception at the Aipac conference. "I think a lot of Americans would find that comment offensive, too."

Mr. Silver's son, Jesse, a college student who supports Mrs. Clinton, said he was spreading the word at the conference about Mr. Obama's remark.

"It's just clumsy of him to say that on the eve of the Aipac conference," Jesse Silver said. "His inexperience is showing."

I hope there is a way for him to compensate for these folks who, IMO, are being completely unreasonable, and maybe don't really want 'peace' but prefer complete anihilation of their Arab brothers. The seem to have no real interest in seeing the other point of view.

Cross-posted at www.seattleforbarackobama.com.