President-elect Barack Obama may change his mind about openly negotiating with rogue nations without preconditions, a journalist told students Thursday.

“The problem with Obama speaking to Iran is that [the Iranians] won’t be sitting on their hands. They will continue to develop their nuclear capabilities,” said Herb Keinon, a diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Post.

Keinon knows a thing or two about the Middle East. Born in Denver, he emigrated to Israel and has worked there for the past two decades.

Dawgs for Israel, a Jewish student organization dedicated to strengthening support for Israel, invited Keinon to Athens to talk about the political and cultural climate in the Middle East.

As a journalist living and raising a family in the region, he understands the cultural, political and religious realities of Israel and its neighbors in a way few Westerners do.

Israel is such a strong ally of the United States that parallels between the two nations obscure how different they are.

“To understand Israel today, you have to understand the insecurity and vulnerability people there live with,” Keinon said.

Though the American and Israeli governments are working toward a common goal of neutralizing Islamic radicalism and promoting stability, the method of accomplishing the goals change with the election of a new president or prime minister.

“Bush – regardless of what you think about him – set a new standard for U.S.-Israeli relations,” Keinon said. “He was the first American president to make a Palestinian state a U.S. policy goal. He oversaw unprecedented cooperation between U.S. and Israeli military and intelligence organizations. He recognized Hezbollah and Hamas for the terrorist organizations that they are and refused to negotiate with them, and that’s not a given. All told, Bush will be remembered very favorably in Israel.”

Israel was one of only three countries polled recently to support Sen. John McCain over President-elect Barack Obama. Only 34 percent of Israelis polled said they favored Obama, a figure that stands in stark contrast to the way American Jews voted in the presidential election.

Obama’s pledge to negotiate without preconditions is unsettling to many Israelis, Keinon said, and spoke about the evolving threat posed by Iran.

“Iran does not want to see peace in the Middle East between Palestinians and Israel. It flies in the face of Islamic revolution, and Iran will not hesitate to use Hezbollah and Hamas” to hinder the peace process.

The proximity of Israel to constant violence and terror has created a society that shares America’s goals for peace and stability but views the world in a different way.

“It’s difficult to raise kids who don’t hate,” said Keinon, a father of four. “I hear my kids say things at the dinner table that I can’t believe are coming out of their mouths. And all my wife and I can do is to try and ensure that our children are not consumed by hate and fear.”