Washington Post Editorial, "President Obama’s To-Do List for His Mideast Trip": The Wrong Symbolic Gestures

The Washington Post, in an editorial entitled "President Obama’s to-do list for his Mideast trip" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/president-obamas-to-do-list-for-his-middle-east-trip/2013/03/18/87cd61d0-8ff0-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html?hpid=z3), notes that "Mr. Obama’s visit beginning Wednesday is primarily aimed at allowing him to build bridges both to Israelis and to Mr. Netanyahu," and as such, the president plans various symbolic gestures:

"The president’s schedule is loaded with symbolic affirmations of his commitment to Israel’s security, such as a U.S.-funded Iron Dome anti-missile battery that will await him at the airport, and with correctives to mistakes Mr. Obama made in his first term. In his 2009 Cairo speech, the president inadvertently implied that Israel’s existence was justified by the Holocaust; on this visit he will visit an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls as a way of affirming the historical Jewish claim to the land."

Note, however, that Obama will not speak before Israel's parliament or visit the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem so as to avoid offending Israel's Muslim neighbors.

Sorry, but visiting an exhibition of the Essenes' Dead Sea Scrolls is not what it will take to improve the popularity of Obama among the 68 percent of Israelis who have an unfavorable view of him.