Barack Obama was never a friend of Israel. Some people were foolish enough to believe otherwise, but I was convinced from day one. And it hardly required psychic powers to see the signs. Red flags were there throughout his presidency, but this week the mask of this Nobel Peace Prize laureate finally slipped, and in the most shocking way.
According to Irish media, Obama - speaking about the Israel-Palestinian conflict at an event in Belfast - said it was “undeniable” that Jews who settled in Palestine to escape persecution “took land off people and they were excessive. And those people understandably said, ‘This is injustice and I want my land back.’”
Read those words again, and consider who spoke them. The problem is not merely that Obama said it. It is that countless people will believe it precisely because Obama said it.
This was not some 5th grader history student speaking. This was a two-term president of the United States, a man who remains one of the most influential figures on the planet, with hundreds of millions of social media followers.
When Obama speaks, people listen. Millions of them. Including young, impressionable people who may know little about Jewish history and the history of this land.
Obama: An 'antisemitism superspreader'
In one fell swoop, Obama, either knowingly or through astonishing ignorance, peddled one of the most pernicious myths about Jews and Zionism - a myth which perhaps more than any other has been responsible for a century of conflict, tens of thousands of Jews killed, and many more times that of Arabs. All because of this false claim that the Jews stole the land.
If this is what Obama truly believes, then, in my view, he is an antisemitism superspreader.
Well, Barack Hussein Obama, let me put you right.
It is not “undeniable” that Jews “took land off people”. It is, in fact, very deniable, because it is quite simply untrue. You do not need to be a professor of Middle Eastern history to understand that the Jewish people have maintained a connection with the Land of Israel for more than 3,000 years. We are not strangers who have appeared here out of nowhere. Jews who more recently settled in waves of aliyah did not steal the land, as you inferred, but bought it legally from Arabs, even paying exorbitant prices. Don’t take my word for it - you can check for yourself in Ottoman and British documents.
And what exactly was it “excessive” that, according to you, the Jews did? Flee from gas chambers? Were my own parents “excessive” when they escaped to Palestine in 1932 because Hitler was round the corner? They bought their own home, by the way.
A wolf in sheep's clothing
And it is not just these latest remarks that should outrage every Jew. I have long believed that Obama felt a deep disdain for Israel. He always was, to my mind, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
His last major act as president was to throw Israel under the bus when he let a resolution condemning Israel pass at the UN. Nor has Israel forgotten that he was responsible for the disastrous nuclear agreement with Iran, a country which wants to destroy ours. Thankfully President Trump tore it up.
I warned about Barack Obama for years. He is not merely a disgrace in my eyes. He is dangerous. And this week, I believe he proved exactly why.
Uri Geller is one of the world’s most investigated proclaimed psychics and has been the source of fierce controversy for decades. He was one of Israel’s first international celebrities and is now the owner of the Uri Geller Museum in Old Jaffa. Learn more at www.urigellermuseum.com. His opinions are his own.