Obama, Arriving in Israel, Offers Reassurance
Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency
President Obama with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Wednesday.
By MARK LANDLER
Published: March 20, 2013
TEL AVIV – President Obama landed here on Wednesday to begin a highly symbolic two-day visit to Israel, the first of his presidency, offering reassurances to a wary Israeli public of the support of its American ally as Israel faces threats from Iran and uncertainty in its roiling neighborhood.
Stepping into a sparkling noonday sun at Ben-Gurion International
Airport here, Mr. Obama embraced President Shimon Peres and Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who waited for him at the bottom of the
stairway, under the looming shadow of Air Force One.
“I see this visit as an opportunity to reaffirm the unbreakable bond
between our two nations,” Mr. Obama said in brief remarks on the airport
tarmac after Mr. Peres and Mr. Netanyahu both praised Washington’s
support for Israel.
President Obama began with the simple greeting “Shalom,” and continued
in Hebrew, saying, “it’s good to be back in the land of Israel.”
“We stand together because we share a common history,” Mr. Obama said of
the United States and Israel, saying both nations were made up of
pioneers, patriots and immigrants. “We stand together because peace must
come to the Holy Land.”
Mr. Obama did not mention the Palestinians by name, referring instead to
Israel’s “neighbor.” Nor did he allude to Iran or Syria, the other top
items on the trip’s agenda. But he invoked the Jewish people’s
3,000-year history in the area, referred to modern Israelis as “the sons
of Abraham and daughters of Sarah.”
“I walk with you on the historic homeland of the Jewish people,” he said.
Mr. Peres told him that “Your visit here is a demonstration of the profound relationship between our two countries.”
And Mr. Netanyahu declared: “Thank you. Thank you for standing with Israel.”
Mr. Obama was driven almost immediately to a nearby hangar to inspect a
battery of the Iron Dome air-defense system. The system, built by
Israeli companies firms but largely financed by the United States, is
credited with intercepting more than 400 rockets fired from Gaza at
Israeli towns.
The president’s inspection of the mobile air-defense battery was the
first of a series of carefully choreographed stops meant to convey a
single message: The president of the United States cares about the
Israeli people and will do whatever is necessary to protect them from
threats, near and far.
Mr. Obama, senior administration officials said, has not come bearing an
ambitious, or even modest, proposal to revive the long-stalled peace
talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Rather, he is seeking
to make a connection with the Israeli people, many of whom view him with
a jaundiced eye after four years in which he sparred with Mr. Netanyahu
over issues like Iran and the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Mr. Obama is scheduled to meet with Mr. Netanyahu for more than four
hours during the trip. They are expected to discuss Iran’s nuclear
program and the status of Western diplomatic efforts to curb it; the
civil war in Syria, where the government and rebel forces accused each
other Tuesday of using chemical weapons; and the moribund
Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The White House has tried to keep expectations for the visit low,
eschewing talk of “deliverables,” the diplomatic jargon for policy
achievements, as well as any suggestion that it represents a “reset” of
the relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu.
Indeed, the timing all but guarantees that no serious diplomacy can be done: Mr. Netanyahu has just cobbled together a new coalition government,
with an untested collection of disparate parties, and Mr. Obama, barely
into his second term, is introducing a new secretary of state, John
Kerry.
The centerpiece of the visit will be a speech by Mr. Obama at the
Jerusalem International Convention Center, where he will address an
audience of young Israelis assembled by several universities.
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