Wrapping up a three day visit to Israel, US President Barack Obama paid his respects to its heroes and to victims of the Holocaust, again solemnly affirming the Jewish state's right to exist. Accompanied by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama laid wreaths at the graves of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism who died in 1904 before realizing his dream of a Jewish homeland, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995.
He also toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, declaring after that the memorial illustrates the depravity to which man can sink but also serves as a reminder of the "righteous among nations who refused to be bystanders."
Wearing a kippa, Obama rekindled an eternal flame next to a stone slab above ashes recovered from extermination camps after World War Two. "We have a choice to acquiesce to evil or make real our solemn vow - never again," Obama said. He made it clear he recognized that Jewish roots to the Holy Land were centuries-old. "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," he said. The president said that one could visit the memorial 1,000 times, "and each time one's heart would break."
However, he said that at Yad Vashem, along with seeing man's capacity for evil and how evil can triumph when people remain passive, one also sees man's capacity for good. "We learn here that people have a choice to succumb to evil or to act against it. Our sons and daughters are not born to hate, lets fill their hearts with understanding and compassion," he continued. He referred to the light "shining on the Jerusalem hills," that visitors see after passing through the darkness of Yad Vashem, saying "here we hope."
Friday's stop at Herzl's grave, together with Thursday's visit to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient Hebrew texts kept at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, were symbolic stops for Obama that acknowledged that the rationale for Israel's existence rests with its historical ties to the region and with a vision that predated the Holocaust. Obama was criticized in Israel for his 2009 Cairo speech in which he gave only the example of the Holocaust as reason for justifying Israel's existence.
At Rabin's grave, Obama paid his respects to family members of the late prime minister, including daughter Dalia Rabin and his granddaughter Noa Rotman. "Sometimes it is harder to embark on peace than to embark on war," Dalia quoted Obama as telling the family at the grave site.
Obama to Israeli students: Peace for Israel comes only when Palestinian rights are also recognized
On Thursday, Obama gave a keynote speech to an audience of students in which he urged young Israelis to promote peace. "Only you can determine what kind of democracy you will have," Obama told several hundred people in a speech given in a Jerusalem Convention Center. He called on them to remember that when they made those decisions they "will define the future of Israel as well." Obama said the only way for Israelis and Palestinians to achieve peace is through negotiations.
He tried to reassure the Israelis that the relationship between the United States and Israel was strong enough for Israelis to take risks for peace.
The US president recognized that Israelis "live in a neighborhood where many of your neighbors have rejected your right to exist. Your parents lived through war after war to ensure the survival of the Jewish state. Your children grow up knowing that people they have never met hate them because of who they are, in a region that is changing underneath your feet."
However, he added that "The Palestinian people's right to self-determination and justice must be recognized" not only for the sake of the Palestinians, but to bring peace to Israel. He asked his audience to put themselves in the Palestinians' shoes, to "look at the world through their eyes."
"It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day."
Reiterating that Israel had the "right to defend itself," Obama called on Hamas to renounce violence, and affirmed the United States' stance that Hezbollah "is a terrorist organization." After hecklers briefly interrupted Obama, he said, "This is part of the lively debate that we talked about. … I wouldn't feel comfortable if I didn't have at least one heckler."
