Good-Will Tours!

There he is, President Barack Obama, spreading goodwill and assurances toward the global Muslim community, the ummah that hangs on his every word. And well they might. While nothing is spoken of the dread and lethal attacks on Christian communities within the Muslim world, the horrors of Western "Islamophobia" must be addressed by the President of the United States, assuring the world of Islam that though Islamists violently attack the West, the U.S. has no quarrels with Islam.

Well, no it wouldn't have. One recalls the alacrity with which former President George W. Bush sought to assure the Muslim world that it wasn't being held responsible for the horrible actions of a few disgruntled jihadists who launched a deadly attack on New York, killing three thousand Americans, by visiting a mosque and delivering a conciliatory speech. But President Obama is doing Mr. Bush one better; the mosques he visits are set within those Muslim states. And notoriously thin-skinned Muslims must be placated.

And Mr. Obama waxes eloquent, as is his wont, about the glorious traditions of Islam, and its peaceful and humanistic message to the world. His own exposure, as an impressionable child growing up in Indonesia, left him with the indelible memory of a gracious and relaxed civilization with a traditional devotion to Islam. Now, back in Indonesia for a quick trip to consolidate the previous overtures to a still-suspicious Muslim world, he met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in Jakarta.

And there, in Jakarta, while addressing America's relationship with the Muslim world, studiously avoiding tainting the Muslim world with any reference to part of the Muslim world supporting and encouraging violent jihad and a 'war on America', President Obama celebrated what the U.S. and Indonesia have in common; a civilized dedication to peace and security. Indonesia is the most Muslim-populous country in the world, and it is vital to President Obama's agenda on befriending the Muslim world, to convince Southeast Asia's largest Muslim-populated country that the 'new beginning' is advancing in their solid relationship.

"We don't expect that we are going to completely eliminate some of the misunderstandings and mistrust that have developed over a long period of time, but we do think that we're on the right path", he opined at a joint press conference with the Indonesian President. Oops, modestly accepting all the responsibility inherent in "misunderstandings and mistrust". And the Indonesian President was clearly pleased that his country and the U.S. had sealed a "comprehensive partnership" agreement that would help both countries in economic ties, inclusive of "security and democratization".

And then - then, President Obama introduced the always problematic topic of Israel versus the Muslim world, for Israel is, of course, a thorn in the side of Muslim contentment. For its inability to forge ahead with a peace agreement with the Palestinians? Or for its intractability in insisting that it has a right to exist, and to exist in a landscape that has been consecrated to Islam? President Obama selected that occasion to speak critically of Israel's determination to proceed with the building of 1,300 new homes in east Jerusalem.

"This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations. I'm concerned that we're not seeing each side making the extra effort to get a breakthrough that could finally create a framework for a secure Israel living side by side in peace with a sovereign Palestine", he said disapprovingly, and clearly on side with Muslim thought in the matter. For it was Israel, and Israel only, that was being condemned; "each side" clearly making reference to one particular 'side' in the equation.

Conveniently overlooking the fact that Jerusalem is seen by sovereign Israel as its capital. Indivisible. No one tells Jakarta or Washington that each cannot build within their capital cities. Indonesia became an independent nation in the very same year that Israel did. Is it helpful that the President of the United States commits a slur on the Jewish State during this visit to Indonesia, in an obvious currying of favour, ingratiating himself with the Muslim world? Is this neutrality of a man of worldly vision, or is this stark bias?

The signing of the Oslo Declaration of Principles in September 1993 opened the way for Israel and Indonesia to move overtly toward normalizing relations. With the Israel-PLO agreement in place, first Arafat and then Rabin visited Jakarta and talked with Suharto. One year later Abdurrahman Wahid, the moderate leader of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the thirty-million-strong, traditionalist Islamic organiza­tion, and Djohan Effendi, a leading Islamic intellectual in interfaith dialogue and private speech writer for Suharto, visited Jerusalem at the invitation of Prime Minister Rabin to witness the signing of the peace accord with Jordan.

When Abdurrahman Wahid became president himself in 1999, he made normalizing Indonesian-Israeli relations a personal goal. His failure to win control of parliament, however, saw his term in office truncated and his ambitiously reformist presidency replaced by the "do-nothing" presidency of Megawati Sukarnoputri. Her replacement, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was directly elected president in September 2004 after winning a massive 21 percent more votes than the lackluster incumbent. But despite his clear popular mandate, Yud­hoyono faces the same problem as Wahid in securing the support of the parliament. His cautious nature and his reliance on two small radical Islamist parties means that any breakthrough in Indonesian-Israeli relations will likely have to be preceded by success in peace-building initiatives between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. From Global Jewish Affairs