"Only time will tell if the US president is Barack or Hussein," Yesha Council Director-General Pinchas Wallerstein said Thursday in response to Obama's historic speech in Cairo, in which called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims."
Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan was more critical of the American leader, saying "in many respects the speech pandered to Islam; it emphasized 'Hussein' more than it did 'Barak', and proved that we must not allow the Obama administration (impose its will regarding Israeli construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem). He will eventually cause us to divide Jerusalem and cede the Temple Mount."
"However, we must keep in mind that the decisions are made in Jerusalem," Dayan said.
The Shomron Settlers' Committee issued a statement saying "The State of Israel is paying the price for its leaders' defeatism. Hussein Obama opted to adopt the Arab's bogus versions over the Jewish truth."
Baruch Marzel, chairman of the rightist National Jewish Front movement, said in response to the speech "we will continue to settle the Land of Israel whether Obama likes it or not. Obama and American administration officials can make declarations, but the actions of the youths are what will determine the results on the ground."
National Union MKs Arieh Eldad and Michael Ben Ari slammed the "shocking comparison Obama made between the annihilation of Europe's Jews and the suffering Israel's Arabs inflicted upon themselves."
"The Zionist vision of settling the Land of Israel is stronger than any president or government. We survived pharaoh, and we'll survive Obama as well," Ben Ari said.
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