Is US president Obama learning from Nelson Mandela’s love for Palestine and liberty for all?

Not sure if the world tourism industry and travelers that visit Johannesburg on the search for the amazing legacy of Former South African President Mandela would find this reference. Today everyone in the world agrees with the person known ending apartheid Nelson Mandela. His fight for freedom would not be complete if his sharp critic of countries like the United States could not be used to educate.It appears US president Barack Obama accepted that lesson. Will he make changes in US policies against Palestine? According to the US Consulate in Jerusalem this may be a step forward.
President Obama remembered Nelson Mandela: “A man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice.

Palestinian leaders said Nelson Mandela’s difficult journey is a symbol of Israeli “occupation,”and if he was victorious in his fight for liberation, the Palestinians can be as well.

The American consulate in Jerusalem on Friday posted a photograph on its official Facebook page marking the passing of late South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela by highlighting his pro-Palestinian political activism.

The post showed Mandela prior to his death alongside a quote in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians,” reads the quotation on the page of the diplomatic mission that serves Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

The United States featured Nelson Mandela on a terror watch list until 2008.
Just before his 90th birthday, the United States gave Nelson Mandela a special present, striking him from a decades-old terror watch list and ending what US officials called “a rather embarrassing matter”.

“If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings,” Mandela said after the US invaded Iraq.

Five years later US President Obama said Mandela’s courage, kindness and humility stirred millions of people, including himself.

Obama spoke with Zuma by phone Thursday evening to express his “heartfelt condolences.”

On Friday, Obama spoke with Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, to express his condolences, the White House said.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife Laura plan to join the Obamas aboard Air Force One when the president and first lady travel to South Africa for Mandela’s memorial, Politico reported.

The US listed Mandela’s African National Congress as a “terror group” in the 1980s, when it was still a strong supporter of the South African apartheid regime that Mandela spent his life fighting.

US President Ronald Reagan said in a 1981 CBS News interview, “Can we abandon a country that has stood by us in every war we’ve fought, a country that is strategically essential to the free world?” and refused to impose sanctions on the apartheid regime.

In a Jan. 2003 interview, Mandela said “if there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care,” referencing the impending invasion of Iraq by US forces.

Nelson Mandela was a frequent advocate of the Palestinian cause. Israel, meanwhile, was a close military and economic ally of the apartheid regime from 1973 onwards.

Mandela called Israel a “terror state” in Oct. 1990 during a visit to Australia, lambasting Israel for “slaughtering defenseless and innocent Arabs in the occupied territories.”

In an interview in June 1990 with ABC News, meanwhile, Mandela said “We identify with the PLO because, just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self-determination. … To think that, because Arafat is conducting a struggle against Israel that we must therefore condemn him, we can’t do it. It is just not possible.”

Here are some quotes from the leader that are less likely to be published as his life is honored and his death commemorated in the mainstream media.

Prior to the US invasion of Iraq, Mandela slammed the actions of the US at a speech made at the International Women’s Forum in Johannesburg, declaring that former President George W. Bush’s primary motive was ‘oil’, while adding that Bush was undermining the UN.

Mandela did not hold back from making hard-hitting statements against the US, and repeatedly spoke out against the prospect of the country invading Iraq. As the US prepared its mass-action in 2002, Mandela told Newsweek:

“If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace.”

Mandela met with Fidel Castro in 1991, giving a speech alongside him entitled “How Far We Slaves Have Come.” The country was commemorating the 38th anniversary of the storming of the Moncada, and Mandela hailed Cuba’s ‘special place’ in the heart of the people of Africa, its revolution, and how far the country had come.

“From its earliest days, the Cuban Revolution has also been a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people. We admire the sacrifices of the Cuban people in maintaining their independence and sovereignty in the face of the vicious imperialist-orchestrated campaign to destroy the impressive gain made in the Cuban Revolution….Long live the Cuban Revolution. Long live comrade Fidel Castro.”

Mandela urged for the end to harsh UN sanctions imposed upon Libya in 1997, and pledged his support for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was a longtime supporter of his.

“It is our duty to give support to the brother leader…especially in regards to the sanctions which are not hitting just him, they are hitting the ordinary masses of the people … our African brothers and sisters,” Mandela said.