So today the Middle East stands at a fateful crossroads. And like all of you, I pray that the peoples of the region choose the path less traveled, the path of liberty.
No one knows what this path consists of better than you. Nobody. This path of liberty is not paved by elections alone. It’s paved when governments permit protests in town squares, when limits are placed on the powers of rulers, when judges are beholden to laws and not men, and when human rights cannot be crushed by tribal loyalties or mob rule.
Israel has always embraced this path in a Middle East that has long rejected it. In a region where women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are persecuted, Israel stands out. It is different.
Before anyone poo-poos this, he's the conservative leader of a government that panders to religious extremists. Yet he has no problem mentioning gays in an address to another government that is somewhat equivocal on, and even downright hostile to, gay rights. It's not nothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment