Obama Heckled At Western Wall

Before he left Israel, Barack Obama made an predawn visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. But his trip to the Jewish holy site was marred by heckling:

[O]ne man at the Wall began screaming: "Obama, Jerusalem is our land! Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale!"

He kept yelling this for Obama's entire 10 minutes at the Wall, refusing to stop despite repeated entreaties to do so from the crowd.

Obama chatted with the men with whom he'd come to the Wall, before walking to the Wall to place a note he had previously written between the Wall's cracks. He put his hand on the Wall, bowed his head and appeared contemplative.

The heckler, not an Obama fan, continued yelling.

Obama turned from the Wall and walked back to his crowd. Some young men tried to drown out the heckler, chanting, "Obama! Obama! Obama!"

After shaking some hands, Obama got back in his motorcade and headed to the airport.

"It was rowdier than the last time I was there, you know?" Obama told reporters on the plane. "I mean, people were sort of, like, holerin'. You know I was expecting more reverence."

Watch the video:

Comments

[ndnndpendent]

There has been violence and bloodshed in the "holyland" for over 2000 years and it will continue for the next 2000 years..............

[Seven7s]

This is really the bottom line.

If Jesus couldnt keep the two sides from fighting what the hell is Obama going to do realistically?

Oh that's right..Obama IS Jesus. Almost forgot lol

I kid the Christ child

[Vurt]

how rude at a holy site.

[waiguoren]

To say Jerusalem is not for sale, implies that you own it.

That's a disgrace in itself

[sharonh]

To say something is not for sale could also imply nobody owns it. We know this is not true, look at our country for example.

[rjohns3]

That wall has done more damage than good....... time to let go of yesterday and look forward to tomorrow. The human spirit is greater and far more important than any stone could ever be.

[ruyen]

I think it would have been badass if he had him checked for weapons then, assuming he was clear, sat down and talked to him man to man. He didn't sound like a psycho and, you're right, us Libs can't have it both ways. You can't support protest when it's you doing it but be against it when you don't agree. To paraphrase (re: butcher) the famous quote: Supporting free speech means you support your enemies saying whatever they want. Even the Westboro bigots deserve the right to protest, no matter how heartless and narrow-minded they are.

But I think it would have been epic if he actually sat down with the protester and reasoned with him.

[wm1066]

Obama gets heckled by one man on his Mid East -European tour.
Bush had thousands just in England!

[FilthyPerson]

"I mean, people were sort of, like, holerin'. You know I was expecting more reverence."

I bet you all think he was talking about reverence for the Western Wall.

[doctorwang]

I believe he was talking about river ants which are quite common in that section of the world. They are quite aggressive and have a nasty bite. The one photo shows Obama squashing one with his thumb.

[JoePalooka]

LOL!

[Cynth]

You don't need to like Obama, but have some respect for spirituality.

[truindep]

why?

[sharonh]

Oh, that was filthy funny.

[egal]

He WAS talking about the Western Wall. Obama has never asked for anything approaching reverence, and to assume or even imply otherwise is just as ignorant as, say, one person putting his political ambitions before everybody else's efforts to respect the issues tied up in that symbol. Or one candidate saying he supports the troops while voting against every attempt to give them resonable remuneration for their sacrifices.

[poppyseed]

Obama is a religious and spiritual man. He is unashamed of his moments of contemplation and reflection. Normally, out of respect for another's religion, we allow those moments to go uncontested by political hectoring.

Such is the result of 16 years of parisan politics, the yelling man and "FilthyPerson" have forgotten what human decency is.

Yell all you want at Obama before he steps up to pray, and yell at him all you want after he is through. Some things should be above politics. and are for most of us, but not for these partisan few. Sad, indeed.

[sickofhypocrisy]

Obama is a religious and spiritual man.

On what, exactly, do you base this incredible insight into Obama's heart? Because he says so? How naive can you be?

[Jetling]

Religion has been politicized for some time - and to an unprecedented level by GWB. The issue of Rev. Wright nonwithstanding, Obama certainly is above that, but I think he totally understands that re-establishing the line between church and state - even if it's nuanced - is a big part of bringing America out of this morass.

[Justsaynodeal]

One wouldn't expect anything else when 0-man has gone on record as saying Jerusalem should be the capitol of Israel.............and "he wouldn't want to see barbed wire running through the streets of that city." There are no potential votes for 0-man from Palestinians...............and ultimately 0-man is a masterful Chicago trained politician.

[NURREDIN]

In case you don't know, the wall is all that's left of King David's Temple after the Romans destroyed it. You must wear a yamulke just as you would if you were in temple. You used to wear a kaffieyeh (which is a Sephardic Jewish invention that's been co-opted by the mostly Muslim population) in Jesus' time, but now the Ashkenazum (the lost tribe) prefer you wear a yamulke.You go to the wall with your prayer written on a piece of paper and insert it into the wall,and you pray that your wish comes true. Usually it's a prayer for someone else,as it's considered in poor taste to pray for yourself(unless you're really ill). It was considered an affront to God to enter the temple without your head being covered. Muslims also wear a sort of yamulke,but it's worn under the kaffieyeh, as Jews used to do thousands of years ago.So it's out of respect that Obama wore the yamulke. I'm dying to know what he wished for, but it's not allowed to remove someone else's prayer from the wall.

[Ides]

Kaffiyeh wasn't "co-opted," it's been a part of Arab culture for centuries if not millenia. Newsflash, Jews are from the Arab peninsula, they're all Semitic peoples.

[thefooligan5]

I would absolutely not be surprised if someone tried to steal obama's hand-written wish. I mean everyone knows exactly where he placed the paper. And I mean this not as an affront to the Jewish people or Israelis in general but rather humanity.

[Justsaynodeal]

"'I'm dying to know what he wished for, but it's not allowed to remove someone else's prayer from the wall."


What else other than winning the POTUS...................that is the ultimate goal.

[LillianB]

That is beautiful indeed. Do you think the privacy of his prayer will be respected, or will someone sneak their way to it?

[GunneraGirl]

Thank you - how lovely!

[libmatters]

McCain's people would have had the man arrested for trespassing.

[sco8d]

Cheney would have him waterboarded and put in Guantanomo.

[sharonh]

That is a very good point. Freedom to dissent is freedom. I would rather listen to a heckler than live under tyranny. The price we pay.

[Oilygarch]

.
The man probably wouldn't have been there in the first place.

That is because, in my recollection, the G0P does its best to ensure all attendees sign oaths of allegiance to the G0P before gathering..

[glorysong]

That was not the place or the time for this ignorant heckler to be there with this kind of stupid mess. This is Holy ground. A place at the wall where they pray. So he was only there for one reason, and that was to cause hell for Obama. But it did not work. All he did was made his self look stupid. I do not believe that Obama went over to buy their country. Always one fool in the bunch.

[torrrep]

That's funny. You libs were all hollering about free speech when those protesters were arrested for interrupting Easter Mass, which is a very holy mass to Christians.

[Oilygarch]

.
Huh?.

[zippywpinhead]

when I saw the headline my first thought was-

"I didn't know that Tucker Bounds was in Israel"

[YellowPanties]

...or Tucker Carlson...