Nearly six full months later…I’m back? Lets jump straight in.

Most of you know – certainly anyone who has read these pages does – that I have supported President Obama from day one. I enjoyed his address at the DNC in 2004, forgot about him during his following months as Junior Senator from Illinois, and quickly picked up pace by the time significant Presidential aspirations seemed eminent.

Watching the two night NBC Brian Williams special with my mom this evening, she remarked on how extraordinary she thinks Obama is – and I agreed. His charisma and shining intellect finally provide a President fit for the job – and 63% of American agree! Hooray approval ratings! Americans; we; I, love his ability to articulate his opinion (eight years was a long time), his open-mindedness, and his eagerness to reconnect with the rest of the world. Read: the Arab world.

Yeah. I said it. Ready for the kicker?

I think not sugar-coating everything the United States has to do with Israel isn’t the worst foreign policy move, either, though that one took me a long time to say. Don’t get too excited – that’s as far as I’ll go. Phew.

For quite some time I have held the belief that being a supportive critic of something (something = Israel) is both more productive and indicative of a working relationship than supporting that something without discretion. Read simply: blind support of Israel, though an 8-year Bush policy, is a shitty policy. Note: the 8 year Bush policy consisted of 6 years of not getting involved at all, and 2 years of false promises and failed conferences.

For several months I have been quiet about my thoughts regarding Israel, perhaps, simply, because it is incredibly difficult to criticise her, at times, without being labeled an anti-Zionist, which I am not, or instilling the wrath of right-wingers (of both the Israeli and American political spectrum, though primarily the former). Difficulties also lie in figuring out what I think – something I still need to work on. Either way, let it be made clear that I support and adore Israel, for many of the things she offers her citizens and the world. She is unique in the technology produced within her borders, but above all in the role she serves as the home of so many different people: a homeland both literal and metaphorical for Jews, Muslims and Christians alike.

Israel’s neighborhood and her interactions with those neighbors, though, has up until this point, and likely far past it, been the focus of any significant debate. Indeed, as President Obama prepares to address the Arab world from Cairo in a mere six hours (6:45 am EST) his main objective will be to begin a new page and attitude in US-Arab relations. Of course, I don’t know what the guidelines of this new page will be – that is yet to be seen, and should not be taken at face value, but rather as those guidelines are carried out. Regardless, I am glad that we are taking a step forward in our relations with the Arab world, as the previous administration seemed only to dig a hole that Obama is only beginning to climb out of. So many of my friends and the publications I read (sporadically) are filled with inadvertant, and sometimes blatant racism towards Arabs. Though terrorism and awful attacks both verbal, mental, and physical towards Jews and the Jewish state drive me up the wall, Israel and her supporters need to take the moral high-road and embrace the Jewish values of loving our neighbors and pursuing peace.

And still, I worry.

My worries, it seems, stem from the consequence that this new set of Obama policies will have on Israel – particularly her safety. It is still not clear to me, for example, how far Obama will actually let Iran’s “peaceful” nuclear aspirations go. I am confident in Tzahal’s ability to maintain a secure Jewish state, but the US has and always will be (G!d willing) Israel’s biggest ally. Without us, the list is short…

As for Obama’s urge (request? demand?) that Israel remove its citizens from, and demolish, settlements (yes, including natural growth), I have mixed emotions. I am surely not as educated as I need to be on the topic to fully weigh in on it, but I find it difficult both to make Israeli settlers leave land that, supposedly, they bought, and leave them displaced. In addition, recalling recent history of demolishing Israeli homes (Summer 2006), returning that land to Palestinians, only to watch terrorists shoot rockets from said land in return does not leave me feeling warm and fuzzy. Where is the incentive for Israel in that move? Or removing itself to 1967 borders, for that matter? This issue is a blog post in itself, so I’ll save it.

Excuse this jumble of a post. My thoughts on all of these issues and more remain cloudy on a good day – clearly I have significant thinking to do. In the meantime, I am not particularly optimistic for any major breakthroughs soon – with Bibi’s stubbornness and Avigdor Leibermans (blatant) racism, not to mention infighting and significant sectarian issues amongst the Palestinians, who remain without a leader. Both sides have significant ways to go. The only upside being I have a lot more time to write about it…

We’ll see what Obama says. Will you be listening?