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Obama hails ‘miracle’ of Israel on Middle East tour

White House candidate Barack Obama yesterday lauded the “miracle” of Israel as he met top officials and paid homage to Holocaust victims on the latest leg of his international campaign swing.

The Democratic senator, on a sprint through the Middle East and Europe designed to convince US voters of his presidential mettle, also traveled to the West Bank to consult Palestinian leaders on sluggish peace moves.

Obama opened his day with talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was later set to join him on a helicopter tour of Israel’s cramped topography, a rite of passage for potential US presidents.

The US senator also toured Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial to the 6 million Jews who had perished under the Nazis.

Wearing a white kippa, Obama laid a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance, where ashes recovered from Nazi extermination chambers are interred.

The memorial reminded him of “the core qualities of humanity that the Holocaust raises,” he told reporters. “Man’s great capacity for evil, and capacity to stop it. This is a place of hope.”

Later yesterday, Obama was due in Sderot, a southern Israeli town that has long been in the firing line of rockets and mortars from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Obama, who has promised to work for peace from his first day in office, if elected, later traveled in a motorcade to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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