By Josh Pasek
During his international trip, Obama used a speech in Jordan to show Jordanians how acts of terror could derail the search for peace. In response to a question, Obama said:
And that’s why terrorism is so counterproductive, as well as being immoral, because it makes, I believe, the Israelis want to dig in and simply think about their own security regardless of what’s going on beyond their borders. I think the same would be true of any people when these kinds of things happen and innocent people are injured. [1]
While Obama was using the speech to help Jordanians see an Israeli perspective, the RJC had a very different interpretation. According to the RJC, who only published a misleading part of the quote, Obama was talking to Israelis and telling them to “put terrorism in context” [2]. This smear was so inaccurate that even the Jewish Telegraphic Agency jumped on the Republican Jewish Coalition [3].
