Barack Hussein Obama, regarded by many (perhaps unfairly, perhaps justifiably) as the US president with the most hostile attitude to Israel in American history, is soon going to visit Israel.
It will be his first visit to Israel as president, despite his campaign promises prior to his first term as president.
He has thus far visited a number of Islamist states in his capacity as president, and during his stewardship in the White House the Arab and Islamic worlds have been set ablaze, seeing the ascendancy of Islamic radicalisation, extremism and open hostility to liberal, democratic values in much of the region.
These changes came about through a remarkable – some might say schizophrenic – combination of active military interference in the internal affairs of some Arab/Islamic states and steadfast refusal to engage even in verbal fencing with other Arab/Islamic states.
What were the thoughts behind Obama’s sudden about-turn, his sudden desire to visit the Jewish state’s united, undivided and everlasting capital city Jerusalem? The US administration, like most others, persists in regarding Israel’s capital as Tel Aviv. Which of course is fine, bearing in mind that the capital of the United States is New York, and the capital of France is Toulouse, and the capital of Britain is Liverpool…