If you were watching C-SPAN last night, you saw an amazing moment in political history — the thunderous standing ovation Israelis gave President Bush at Shimon Peres’ “Facing Tomorrow” conference.  Even the upcoming Republican convention is unlikely to match the emotional outpouring of raw support and love the Israelis showed for Bush.

Peres’ speech offered a grand historical sweep of U.S. presidents’ support for Israel.

And here’s what Peres recently told Lally Weymouth:

So, how does this president impress you?

I think Bush did something very courageous, and that was to topple Saddam Hussein. Imagine today that we would have in the Middle East both Ahmadinejad and Saddam Hussein. Bush [made] a decision and should be given credit for it. The problem with the Europeans is, they are right but they are always late. And here to be late is to be wrong. To be right means to be on time. Would they have been right on Hitler, the whole [of] Europe would look different.
What about President Clinton?
Clinton was a friend. Bush’s father was a friend, and President Ronald Reagan was a friend.

If Barack Obama becomes president, we’d be curious to see who calls him a friend.  Judging from by this Al Jazeera report from Gaza, the answer might be quite evident.