Yesterday, on Sunday, September 19, 2010, the Obama family attended church for only the third time in a year. They went on foot to the St. John’s Episcopal Church situated across the Lafayette Park. But what is widely not reported by the White House and the MSM is that on that particular Sunday in that particular church, Dr. Ziad Asali, M.D., a Muslim, founder and president of the American Task Force on Palestine, was the guest speaker. He was there to speak on the subject of “Prospects of the two-state solution in the Middle-East.”
According to the website of the American Task Force on Palestine, it is a “non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC.” The organization describes itself as “dedicated to advocating that it is in the American national interest to promote an end to the conflict in the Middle East through a negotiated agreement that provides for two states – Israel and Palestine – living side by side in peace and security.”
Dr. Ziad J. Asali is described as “a long-time activist on Middle East issues” who has testified to both chambers of Congress about Palestinian interests, increased U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority, and “Israel’s disproportionate use of force” in Gaza. A retired physician, Asali received his early medical training at the American University of Beirut. He previously served as President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and Chairman of the American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ), which he also co-founded He also served as the President of the Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG).
Next Sunday, September 26, 2010, another guest speaker, Dr. Aaron David Miller, a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, is scheduled to speak on the same subject. Dr. Miller was a State Department Analyst and Negotiator from 1978 to 2003. According to the Wilson Center, his expertise lies in US-Middle East relations, Arab-Israeli negotiations, Arab world and Palestinian politics and Israeli politics. He has appeared on major network television as a guest, and his writing has been internationally published. His latest published book is titled The Much Too Promised Land; America’s Elusive Search For Arab-Israeli Peace and was published in 2008. An excerpt from the book can be found here.
(Dr. Miller is not to be confused with a famous organist with the same name and professional title who ironically has been a church organist and music director at Protestant churches.)
Let’s see if Dr. Miller’s views on the subject will have enough of the same attraction for Obama and his family to return to Church or if the appeal of golf shall once more be irresistible.
