A Good Speech by President Obama to AIPAC

President Obama gave a very good speech to AIPAC: Tough on Hamas, tough on Iran, but also somewhat tough on Israeli procrastination. He understands Israel's dilemma in the same way Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin understood their country's dilemma. Israel needs to find a way to maintain its democratic nature and its Jewish majority. Only compromise on the West Bank -- yes, a return to 1967 borders, with some obvious adjustments (and the President was much more clear today than he was on Thursday on what the term "land-swap" means) will help Israel maintain itself as a Jewish democracy, and will protect it from becoming an international pariah. And by the way, Israel's biggest and most effective defender on the international stage in the coming months will be... Barack Obama. He made that crystal-clear. He opposes the unilateral bid for Palestinian independence in a very forthright way. Now it is up to Prime Minister Netanyahu to listen to Israel's friend in the White House.