President Barack Obama briefly veered away from his prepared remarks in a speech to the Israeli people on Thursday to share a story about his visit with a group of Palestinian children earlier in the day.
“You know, I’m going off script here for a second, but before I came here, I met with a group of young palestinians from the age of 15 to 22,” Obama said at a university in Jerusalem. “And talking to them, they weren’t that different from my daughters. They weren’t that different from your daughters or sons. 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. I believe that’s what Israeli parents would want for these kids, if they had a chance to listen to them and talk to them. I believe that.”
