US President Barack Obama betrayed the Palestinians and the Arab world by
instructing the American delegation to the United Nations to veto a Security
Council resolution condemning Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal,
United Arab List MK Ibrahim Sarsour wrote in an open letter to Palestinian
Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas Saturday.
In the letter, Sarsour accused
Obama of surrendering to Israel, blind bias toward the Jewish state and
directing undue pressure and threats against the Palestinian
leadership.
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to Obama: You no longer scare us and you can go to hell,” Sarsour
wrote.
“Obama cannot be trusted. We knew his promises were lies.
The time has come to spit in the face of the Americans.”
Sarsour
condemned former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Tunisian president Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali as American agents in the Middle East.
He was more
forgiving when it came to former US president George W. Bush.
“[The veto]
proves for the thousandth time that Obama is worse than his predecessor Bush in
his loyalty to Israel, his bias and double standards on the Middle East
conflict, and in ignoring the ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people,
land and holy places,” Sarsour wrote.
In an interview with
The Jerusalem
Post Saturday night, Sarsour said that all Israelis should be upset with how
Obama has handled the Middle East conflict. He said the UN decision was bad for
Israel in the long run, because it would mislead Israelis into thinking that
there was not a consensus that the settlements violate international law and are
an obstacle to peace.
“We had hope in Obama but his unwavering defense of
Israel has left him in an unexplainable coma when it comes to the peace
process,” Sarsour said. “He gave into threats from Jews in Congress and stopped
seeking true peace, so we have no choice but to tell him that he is no longer
wanted in the Middle East and that he can go to hell.
The Arab world
should persuade the US to change its Middle East policies by any means
necessary, including by use of economic pressure.”
By contrast, even the
MKs on the Right that are usually the most critical of the president of the
United States praised Obama on Saturday night.
“I welcome his veto and I
hope that it will be the start of a new, pro-Israel Obama for the first time
since he took office, though I have my doubts,” Likud MK Danny Danon said.