By Michael Regenstreif
The big story in the Jewish world during our final production days for this edition of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin was the three-day visit to Israel by U.S. President Barack Obama. We have photos and news items from the first two days of the visit on pages 2, 12 and 17.
As I write on March 22, we have just received breaking news that Obama concluded his time in Israel by brokering a rapprochement between Israel and Turkey. Obama’s last 30 minutes in Israel were spent with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a trailer on the runway at Ben-Gurion Airport as they spoke with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed an apology to the Turkish people for any error that may have led to the loss of life, and agreed to complete the agreement for compensation,” an official Israeli statement said about the incident on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish boat attempting to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza on May 31, 2010. It was this incident that precipitated the break in relations between Israel and Turkey, which were once allies.
The Israeli statement noted that Netanyahu and Erdoğan agreed to restore normal relations, including returning their ambassadors to their posts.
Also on his final day, Obama paid solemn visits to Yad Vashem and to the graves of assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. Obama placed a stone on Rabin’s grave that he brought from the foot of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington.
At Yad Vashem, Obama spoke words that are so very relevant at this time of year as we mark Yom HaShoah on April 7-8 and Yom Ha’Atzmaut on April 15-16.
“Here we hope,” Obama said at Yad Vashem following a tour and after laying a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance.
“Because, after you walk through these halls, after you pass through the darkness, there is light – a glorious view of the Jerusalem forest, with the sun shining over the historic homeland of the Jewish people; a fulfillment of the prophecy: ‘You shall live again … upon your own soil,’” he said. “Here, on your ancient land, let it be said for all the world to hear: The State of Israel does not exist because of the Holocaust. But, with the survival of a strong Jewish State of Israel, such a Holocaust will never happen again.”
Throughout his visit, the American president reiterated his strong support for Israel and the unbreakable bonds that exist between the United States and Israel, and of the need for a two-state solution. Obama also spoke honestly to both Israelis and Palestinians about the imperative of coming to a peace agreement and of overcoming the reasons and rationales that have kept them from the negotiating table over the past four years.
In the end, the Obama trip was about hope, of tikvah, for the future. To that end, the resolution with Turkey is hugely significant.
Despite all of the cruel realities of the Middle East, this Yom Ha’Atzmaut does seem ever so slightly more hopeful than any in recent memory.
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