Israel falls -- hard -- for Obama

Israelis, it was said leading up to US presidential candidate Barack Obama's precedent-setting tour of Europe and the Middle East, were highly skeptical of the Chicago Democrat.

Skepticism seems to have given way to gushing adoration.

According to Jason Koutsoukis writing from Jerusalem in the Sydney Morning Herald:

"His charismatic personality and chumminess fit the Israelis like a glove, and are reminiscent of the love affair between the Israelis and Bill Clinton," wrote the paper's political correspondent Itamar Eichner.

In the rival national daily, Maariv, the respected political analyst Ofer Shelah noted that "in Israel, the last of the colonies in the dwindling empire of admiration for all things American, the public part of his visit yesterday was like the journey of a crown prince to a remote, excited tribe".

Koutsoukis goes on:

Hillel Schenker, the vice-president of Israeli Democrats Abroad, was still excited when the Herald called him several hours after the senator had left Israel.

"The wave of excitement was something I have rarely seen," he said. "What people could sense here was that this was the next president of the United States. The very fact that all the political leaders of Israel did everything possible to meet with Obama … is a very significant signal that this is a man the state of Israel places a great importance in."