Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration Palestinians. Obama's gesture in reaching out to the Muslim world was unprecedented for a U.S. president. President Obama's first trip to a Muslim majority country occurred on April 6–7, 2009 when he visited Turkey and spoke to the Grand National Assembly. President Obama addressed the Muslim world in a speech in Cairo, Egypt on June 4, 2009. In that speech President Obama issued a call for "a new beginning" in the relationship between the United States and Muslims around the world. He outlined his ideas about "engaging the Muslim world" and how to create "a new beginning." Farah Pandith was
Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration described his allegiance with Israel as being "sacrosanct". Under President Obama, the United States increased aid for Israel's Iron Dome. On September 20, 2011, President Obama declared that the U.S. would veto a Palestinian application for statehood at the United Nations, asserting that "there can be no shortcut to peace". Furthermore, in February, the administration had vetoed a U.N. resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. In 2014 Obama said that only a two-state solution could ensure Israel's future as a Jewish-majority democracy. Ehud Barak described Obama's support for Israel as being unparalleled and the most supportive in