Israel – WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Obama Heckler Shouted Down

Israel – President Barack Obama was interrupted by a heckler while giving a speech to an audience of Israeli university students, but he didn’t lose his cool.

The president was talking about the U.S. being a close ally to Israel when the heckler piped up. The crowd shouted him down.

“This is part of the lively debate that we talked about,” said an unruffled Obama. “This is good.”

That got him a standing ovation from many of the students.

“I have to say we actually arranged for that because it made me feel at home,” Obama said, grinning. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable if I didn’t have at least one heckler.”

Obama went on to deliver an impassioned appeal for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary to achieve lasting security.

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Obama has permitted TV crews with live microphones to accompany him at virtually every stop in Israel, giving a rare and fascinating glimpse at the joking and small talk that takes place on the sidelines of official visits.

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For Obama, this was personal. The president reflected repeatedly on his experience as a father and an African American as he contemplated the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Obama contrasted the experience of children growing up amid the conflict to that of his two daughters, who in an earlier period in American history would have been denied the opportunities granted to others.

“Those of us in the United States understand that change takes time, but it is also possible,” he said.

Later, in Jerusalem, Obama cited Martin Luther King Jr. and likened the story of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Passover to the experience of blacks in the U.S. who were freed from slavery and persecution.

Of the Passover story, Obama added: “For me personally, growing up in far-flung parts of the world and without firm roots, it spoke to a yearning within every human being for a home.”

And the president veered briefly off of his prepared remarks to scores of Israeli students to convey a lesson he took away from meeting earlier in the day with Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank.

“They weren’t that different from my daughters. They weren’t that different from your daughters or sons,” he said. “I honestly believe that if any Israeli parent sat down with those kids, they’d say, `I want these kids to succeed. I want them to prosper. I want them to have opportunities just like my kids do.'”

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At the White House, Obama is used to bestowing medals on combat veterans, both living and deceased, as well as famous Americans, scientists, inventors and others.

But on Thursday, it was his turn to bow his head and accept one for himself.

During a state dinner at Israeli President Shimon Peres’ official residence, Peres presented his American counterpart with the Medal of Distinction, the highest honor the Jewish state bestows on civilians. An announcer said it was for Obama’s “unique and significant” contributions to Israel’s security.

“This award speaks to your tireless work to make Israel strong,” Peres said during his toast. Then he put the large, round medal dangling from a wide, dark-blue ribbon with a white stripe down the middle around Obama’s neck.

The medal features the North Star to symbolize the right path. Also on the medal is a menorah – the emblem of Israel and a symbol of the link between past and present. It is inscribed with the words from Samuel 9:2, “from his shoulders and upward.”

Obama wore the medal as he delivered his reciprocal toast.

“This is an extraordinary honor for me and I could not be more deeply moved,” he said.

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During portions of the dinner that were open to media coverage, Obama and Netanyahu continued the newfound chumminess they displayed a day earlier.

Seated next to each other at a rectangular head table draped in white cloth and adorned with white tulips and orchids, the two leaders were seen leaning in and whispering to one another, laughing and smiling as they awaited Peres’ remarks. At one point, they hid their mouths behind their hands strategically to thwart lip readers and microphones in the room.

Obama and Netanyahu have had a prickly relationship, but they have put on a happier face during Obama’s first visit to Israel as president.

Among the 120 dinner guests seated at similarly decorated round banquet tables were Justice minister Tzipi Livni; Avigdor Lieberman, a Netanyahu ally; and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida, the chair of the Democratic Party.

The invite list led to some interesting pairings.

Seated together at one table were a rabbi from the Western Wall and a Muslim cleric. At another table sat Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to Washington; Yair Lapid, the new star of Israeli politics and a leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party; Yuli Eidelstein, a hard-line Likud lawmaker who is a former Soviet political prisoner and the new speaker of Israel’s parliament; U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Livni.

What were they served? A fish appetizer, a duet of beef and lamb on a potato tart, salad, and a plate of fruit, éclairs, dates and other pastries and sweets.

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Peres is making sure that controversy over a tree brought to Israel by Obama does not upset the deep-rooted ties between the countries.

Obama brought the magnolia tree as a gift, and planted it at Peres’ official residence during a welcoming ceremony Wednesday. Israeli media later reported that the tree would have to be uprooted and tested to make sure it complied with agricultural import regulations.

Peres’ office quickly denied the report. It said agriculture officials would conduct “all the necessary tests” required by law but stressed the checkup would be done “without removing the tree from the place where it was planted, as agreed.”