"The Lebanese, Sarkis Naoum, had been sitting with us ... but when he realized where I was from he passed on the opportunity and fled..."

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Ben Smith on Syrian & Lebanese journalists 'passing on' the opportunity to interview Obama because of Israelis presence., when 'others' accepted the edict "happily"... Politico, here

An Israeli newspaper reported today that two Arab journalists refused to participate in an interview with President Obama because an Israeli reporter would be one of the eight present.

Yedioth Ahronoth's Nahum Barnea wrote, according to a translation from the Hebrew original, of an incident that seems to underscore the size of the gap Obama is seeking to bridge:

After Obama’s speech yesterday at Cairo University, we gathered, six senior journalists from all over the Muslim world and I, the reporter for Yedioth Ahronoth, around a circular table in a side room. The president wanted to give us an interview.

The original group had eight. The Syrian did not show after hearing that a reporter from Israel had been invited. The Lebanese, Naoum Sarkis, had been sitting with us all at the front of the hall but when he realized where I was from and whom I was representing, he passed on the opportunity and fled.

The others accepted the edict with respect, and some even happily. They included the Saudi Jamal Khashoggi, the Egyptians Fahmi el-Awadi and Magdy el-Galad, and the Palestinian woman Wafa Amr, Malaysian Shahnaz Habib and Indonesian Bambang Harimurti, who were flown by the Americans all the way from the Far East. I was the only one who knew Obama from previous meetings.

Barnea reported that he found Obama "both likeable and chilly," and that Rahm Emanuel stood behind the president through the interview.

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 6:52 PM