WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:08.759 American Perspectives continues now with your Own Brook, the executive director of the ain 2 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:14.359 Ran Institute, spoke recently about Israel and the Middle East conflict. This event 3 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:18.600 took place at the University of Pennsylvania in April. It runs about an hour 4 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.600 and forty five minutes. When you have time to ask questions in the question 5 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:28.199 and answer period following the lecture, we ask the introductory comments be brief out 6 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:33.000 of courtesy to the speaker and to others in the audience waiting to ask questions. 7 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.159 We have circulated index cards for those who wish to write down their question. 8 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:42.679 And now I would like you to join me in extending a warm welcome 9 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:52.600 to doctor your Own Brook. Thank you Evan. Good evening, ladies and 10 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:57.960 gentlemen. Thanks Aaul, Thank you all for coming. As military operations in 11 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:04.000 Iraq wind down, we're hearing an increasing chorus of pundits, both American and 12 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:11.040 Arab, calling for the Bush Administration to next devote its efforts to resolving the 13 00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:19.799 Israeli Palestinian conflict. Indeed, the administration itself has chosen as this time to 14 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:30.239 launch its so called roadmap for the solution of this issue. The idea is 15 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:36.319 that By pressuring Israel to compromise, America is going to win friends in the 16 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:41.719 Muslim world at a time when so many are angry at the United States over 17 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:48.359 Europe. According to the pundits, it is America's support of Israel that has 18 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.159 caused many in the Arab world to hate us and motivated them to commit acts 19 00:01:53.200 --> 00:02:00.079 of terrorism against US. The hatred some ad is after all justified because America 20 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:06.680 has been unfair in its dealings with the Israeli Palestinian conflict. We have sent 21 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:12.360 Israeli's aid, sold them weapons which they use to victimize the Arab population. 22 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:17.879 We have been helping Israelis oppress the Palestinians, they claim, and for these 23 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:25.800 sins we are feeling the retribution of the Muslim world now. Paradoxically, to 24 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:31.840 some extent, this view is correct, but for reasons other than those given 25 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:38.479 by the critics of US policy, I would argue that America has not done 26 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:46.240 enough to support Israel. America has been half hearted in supporting its ally, 27 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:54.240 and that is one reason why we have been targeted by terrorists. Essentially, 28 00:02:54.919 --> 00:03:02.280 with every helping hand and offered to Israel, America is simultaneously undercut the Israelis. 29 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:08.280 Since nineteen sixty seven, America's support of Israel has followed a consistent pattern. 30 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:15.919 America has befriended Israel, offered it aid, expertise, money, and 31 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:21.520 helped it become strong in the face of its would be destroyers. Yet it 32 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:29.439 has time and time again pressured now i'd say blackmailed Israel to back down, 33 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:35.800 to make concessions, to compromise on principles with its Arab neighbors and with the 34 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.280 Palestinians. Of course, Europe and much of the rest of the world have 35 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:49.240 since nineteen sixty seven become increasingly hostile to Israel and increasingly sympathetic to Israel's enemies. 36 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:55.360 The West is in the process of abandoning its one bastion of Western civilization 37 00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:01.439 in the Middle East. By weakening Israel, America and the West are betrayed 38 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:11.080 the shortsighted, unprincipled approach to foreign policy. I will argue that it is 39 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:17.839 in America's own self interest morally and practically to support Israel against its Arab and 40 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:26.800 Palestinian enemies. Now, indeed, the moral and the practical are in life 41 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:32.519 in harmony as applied to this conflict, and really in every aspect of life. 42 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:40.279 The IMO is indeed impractical. It just doesn't work. Thus, no 43 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:48.680 practical solution to this conflict is possible. Divorced farm morality, this conflict cannot 44 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:57.920 be understood and no solution proposed without identifying the moral character of each party and 45 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:05.240 treating that party according to what they deserve based on that mall characterization. There, 46 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:10.720 I want to step back from the endless newspaper headlines and dig deeper into 47 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:15.279 this conflict. I want to begin by asking a few questions about the conflict 48 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:20.480 itself. Who is in the right, who isn't the wrong? Whom should 49 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:28.839 America support? In my view, we should support Israel because in this conflict, 50 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:35.079 Israel has rights on its side. It is them all side. Israel 51 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:41.319 is acting in self defense, and any pressure on it to compromise is pressure 52 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:46.120 on the good to compromise with evil, pressure on a friend to take just 53 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:50.360 a little bit of poison. The Abs and the Palestinians, i will argue, 54 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:57.759 are in the wrong and we should not support the establishment of a Palestinian 55 00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:03.120 state. You will see that by compelling Israel to compromise with its enemies, 56 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:12.560 America has made this conflict worse, not better. And has emboldened in the 57 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:21.120 process militantly slam to strike against us. The so called peace process can lead 58 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:29.920 only to more violence in Israel and to war elsewhere. Since the Oslo Agreement, 59 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:35.439 Israel has suffered greatly for its overtures of peace, but America and by 60 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:42.600 extension, the West, are also suffering and will continue to suffer as long 61 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:48.120 as Israel is viewed in the Arab world as weak. America's self defense is 62 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:54.000 intimately connected with that of Israel. It is right and proper for us to 63 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:58.759 side with the Israelis. If we don't, we will be fanning the flames 64 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:06.560 and inviting further aggression. As the commentator Daniel Pipes wrote well before September eleventh, 65 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:14.839 quote, Israel's perceived weakness is now an American problem, and the aggressive 66 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:23.120 euphoria being expressed by the Arab speaking masses poses a direct danger to the United 67 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:30.600 States. Unquote. We saw the magnitude of that danger on September eleventh. 68 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:36.800 So let us now look. It's on the history behind this conflict. In 69 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:41.519 this conflict, I want to ask, as I said, who is right? 70 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:47.199 In essence? Does Israel have a right to exist? Yes? Without 71 00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:54.480 question. Now let me be clear, Israel's right to exist has nothing to 72 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:01.600 do with ancient or biblical history. It has nothing to do with religious or 73 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:07.439 so called collective rights. There is no such thing as collective rights, Jewish, 74 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:16.720 Palestinian or any other. Israel's right to exist lies in the Israel created 75 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:24.399 itself out of nothing. Its founders created a free country in a region dominated 76 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:31.639 by totalitarian, corrupt regimes. Israel's right to exist is based on its mall 77 00:08:31.799 --> 00:08:39.919 standing as a free nation. Now, when the first Jewish immigrants came to 78 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:46.919 Palestine, it was a barren and uncivilized place. As Mark Twain, who 79 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:54.679 visited Palestine in eighteen sixty seven, wrote, Palestine was a quote desolate country 80 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:01.960 whose soil is rich enough but is given over holy to weeds. A desolation 81 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:07.799 is here that not even imagination can grace with a pump of life and action. 82 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:13.279 There was hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the 83 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:18.440 cactus, those fast finds of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country 84 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:26.120 uncourt Indeed, at the end of the nineteenth century the population in Palestine, 85 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:33.039 response swamps were everywhere, and over half the territory was desert. The new 86 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:39.919 immigrants bought land, and on that land they built cities. They dried swamps, 87 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:46.720 and they cultivated desert. They brought in irrigation, grew crops, and 88 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:54.240 in general conquered nature for their own means. They reclaimed land, They built 89 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:58.440 villas, swimming pools, and modern sanitation. They built universities, opera houses, 90 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:05.799 and to an area of nomadic tribes and substence farmers, the Jews brought 91 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:13.480 industry, libraries, hospitals, art galleries, higher education, and the rule 92 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:20.279 of law. In short, they brought Western civilization to a mid Eastern hell 93 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:28.080 home. They transformed Palestine from a backward and sponsely populated piece of land into 94 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:37.840 a thriving, relatively Western civilized place. Like nineteenth century homesteaders in the American 95 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:45.120 West, Israel's founders earned the rights to the land, They supported themselves. 96 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:50.240 They created a society in which life was not merely a struggle for subsistence, 97 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:58.080 but one in which men could live in freedom and prosper It was a society, 98 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:05.799 despite some flawing us, that built the foundations that protected and sustained human 99 00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:15.039 life. Thus, in essence, it was a moral society. Now, 100 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:18.799 what was the reaction of the inhabitants of the area who witnessed Israel's flowing. 101 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:24.080 How did the Arabs of the Middle East respond, for the most part with 102 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:31.480 violence. Instead of thanking these new inhabitants for the economic prosperity and political freedom 103 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:37.720 that they brought, for the hospitals and universities that they built. From very 104 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:43.360 early on, the Arabs harassed, attacked, and tried to rid the land 105 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:48.559 of these new immigrants. Now you might suppose that they had legitimate grievances, 106 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:54.759 such as the widely believed story that Israelis who came to Palestine before nineteen forty 107 00:11:54.759 --> 00:12:01.120 eight, the year Israel was founded, displaced the Arab population. All this, 108 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:07.799 indeed is false. Israelis bought the land that they developed or settled on 109 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:13.639 unclaimed land. Indeed, before Israel's founding in nineteen forty eight, there was 110 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:20.360 an influx of Arabs into Palestine. They were drawn there by the unmatched jobs 111 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:28.159 and standard of living, generally by the economic opportunities available in the developing New 112 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:35.080 States, with the drying of the swamps, the establishment of utilities, and 113 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:39.879 the building of hospitals. In addition to employment opportunities, the general quality of 114 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:46.039 life of the Arab population improved, and with it there was a significant increase 115 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:52.399 in life expectancy within the Arab population. To the extent that the Arab population 116 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:58.000 in Israel has been willing to accept the values that these Westerners book with them, 117 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:05.080 they have arrived and succeeded. The material evidence of this is visible in 118 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:09.480 the relatively high standard of living to be found in many Arab villagers, and 119 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:16.639 by the fact that many Arabs when they return from visiting their relatives in Egypt, 120 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:22.200 or Syria or Jordan, bless allah for being born in Israel. These 121 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:28.759 Arabs are far freer in Israel than in any other or any Arab country. 122 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:35.320 They vote, they serve in parliament, even in the cabinet. Some serve 123 00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:45.080 in the Israeli Army, fighting to preserve their freedoms. Yet this makes no 124 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:50.360 difference to the rest of the Arab world. In spite of being offered a 125 00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:56.159 Palestinian state as part of the United Nations resolution that established Israel, the Palestinians 126 00:13:56.279 --> 00:14:03.039 joined the armies of seven Arabs states in war, invading Israel the day it 127 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:07.159 declared its independence in May of nineteen forty eight. Since then, Israel has 128 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:13.240 been under constant attack from its Arab neighbors, it fought five bloody wars, 129 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:20.200 all in self defense. Given that the Arabs are far better off as Israeli 130 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:26.960 citizens than in any other Mid Eastern country, given that they have no real 131 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:35.559 objective historical grievance against Israel, why do they not try and emulate Israel's success 132 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:41.200 instead of attacking her? What is their motivation? Now? When a person 133 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:48.840 sees that a different culture can produce a much better life, greater knowledge, 134 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:54.600 greater mastery over nature, greater comfort and security, greater respect for the individual 135 00:14:54.279 --> 00:15:01.120 than his own culture, that person has two choices. He can adopt the 136 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:07.120 new culture as a blessing, or he can seek to destroy it and ultimately 137 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:13.480 himself. The Arabs are guilty of what Einrand called quote hatred of the good 138 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:18.440 for being the good. As she wrote in another context, quote, they 139 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.960 do not want to own your fortune. They want you to lose it. 140 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:31.279 They do not want to succeed, They want you to fail. They do 141 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:37.639 not want to live, They want you to die unquote, As the commentator 142 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:43.919 commentator Ed Locke writes, the Palestinians quote hate the Israelis not because of their 143 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:48.919 vices, but because of their virtues. Their ability to better their lives by 144 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:56.240 embracing reason, science, technology, and individual rights. Israel, despite its 145 00:15:56.279 --> 00:16:03.879 own growing crop of religious mystics, ends the triumph of secularism and freedom in 146 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:11.200 the Middle East. Israel stands for the principle of progress, stands for the 147 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:18.759 principle of life itself. Now, this is what makes Israel a mal country. 148 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:26.200 It's pro life, pro freedom, pro reason, essential nature. And 149 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:32.440 this is also the reason that it is hated. Now. According to the 150 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:38.039 ethics of Iran's philosophy, the philosophy of objectivism, a good man who is 151 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:42.759 one who lives by the guidance of reason. He lives for the sake of 152 00:16:42.759 --> 00:16:49.919 his own happiness, achieving his ends by his own efforts, neither sacrificing himself 153 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:57.720 to others nor others to himself. A moral state, a mal country is 154 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:03.559 one that protects a man's rights to pursue his own ends, that secures his 155 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:10.920 freedom to act and protect his property. A country that offers this, a 156 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:18.799 country that enables men, Arabs, Jews, all men to thrive, is 157 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:26.359 indeed a moral country. In essential terms, Israel is such a country, 158 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:33.640 and therefore has a moral right to exist. Yet many in the Arab world 159 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:41.680 and the Palestinians, particularly the Arab leadership and the Arab intellectuals, have hated 160 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:48.759 these Westerners and the values they represented from the day they appeared in Palestine. 161 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:53.160 They objected, as they still do today, to the very formation of an 162 00:17:53.279 --> 00:18:00.880 Israeli state. Although the Arabs are the aggressives, they betray themselves as the 163 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:07.359 victims. Now, I say, no, regardless of its victories, Israel 164 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:12.960 is in the rights. It is the victim. It has always been the 165 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:18.240 target of aggression. The wars that has waged and the territories that has conquered 166 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:26.720 were all acts of self defense. But the problem here it's not merely that 167 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:32.839 the Arabs claim to be the victims. It is an America like many other 168 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:40.680 countries, except that Israel and her aggressors are morally equal, that in this 169 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:47.359 conflict, both sides have legitimacy. Now, I have argued that Israel is 170 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:52.200 the moral party, that is, a state that protects individual rights and freedom, 171 00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:59.000 It alone is entitled to invoke a right to exist. American foreign policy 172 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:04.640 should reflect that fact. Now, while Israel's rights to exist and its position 173 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:10.319 as in all country are valid, in the interest of objectivity, I would 174 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:15.640 say that I have certain reservations regarding Israel. As I mentioned, there is 175 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:19.559 no such thing as collective rights to a state, and as a consequence, 176 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:27.480 it's a mistake for Israel to long term identify itself and consider itself a Jewish 177 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:34.480 state. Indeed, Israel's biggest flaw is the lack of complete separation between state 178 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:41.960 and religion. In addition, It's socialistic policies violate the individual rights of its 179 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:48.519 own citizens and have driven many Israelis to leave the country and of course held 180 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:56.000 it back economically. However, these detriments by no means undercut Israel's value as 181 00:19:56.200 --> 00:20:03.200 a country or the morality and righteousness of their position in the Middle East. 182 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:10.240 This is especially true when compared to their neighbors. Now, given this as 183 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:15.160 a context, how should we view the Palestinians and the claims that they not 184 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:26.839 that terrorized Israelis are the victims? Well, let's consider the evidence. Are 185 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:33.200 they the victims? What can be said of the supposed historical grievances against Israel? 186 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:40.160 Despite their claims that they are victims of a Zionists plot to strip them 187 00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:45.519 of their land, the Palestinians were their aggressors. In the nineteen ninety In 188 00:20:45.559 --> 00:20:49.920 the nineteen forty eight war, they turned down the offer to establish their own 189 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:56.039 state alongside Israel, a larger state than that which they now demand for themselves. 190 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:03.200 Rejecting the offer, they opted to join Israel's enemies in the goal of 191 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:07.480 erasing it from the map. When the Arab armies invaded Israel in May of 192 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:12.640 nineteen forty eight, the Palestinians joined them. At the time, what they 193 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:18.720 saw was not the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. What they saw 194 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:25.960 was the complete destruction of Israel. A secretary general of the Arab League, 195 00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:33.160 Azamfasha, made clear in nineteen forty eight quote, the Arabs intend to conduct 196 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:41.279 a war of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian 197 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:48.119 massacres and the Crusades end quote. So the fact that there is no Palestinian 198 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:53.759 state today is not the fault of the Israelis. Rather, by rejecting the 199 00:21:53.880 --> 00:22:00.359 offer of establishing a state in nineteen forty eight and then initiating force again against 200 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:06.680 Israel, the Arabs negated whatever rights they had to a state. Now, 201 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:12.680 what about the claims that the Palestinians were displaced turned into refugees by the Israelis, 202 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:19.640 while the large majority of Palestinians fled out of fear of the violence their 203 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:26.920 own leaders were initiating. Many, particularly the community leaders, the rich, 204 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:33.279 and the intellectuals, fled before any hostilities begun. It was not necessarily the 205 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:40.000 Jews they feared, but the conflict itself. In some cases, Palestinians left 206 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:45.920 their home because of coursion of their own leadership, and while Israel did occasionally 207 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:52.920 drive out small numbers of Palestinians, this was due primarily to unplanned military considerations 208 00:22:52.960 --> 00:23:00.079 and was an act of self defense. The dominant attitude among Palestinians at the 209 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:07.240 time was that they had been victims of their own leadership, who had deserted 210 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:14.000 them and had promised them a quick return home, rather than victims of Israeli 211 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:21.599 hostility. As the historian your short parat Rites quote, the nineteen forty eight 212 00:23:21.720 --> 00:23:27.119 war was launched by the Arabs who rejected the United Nations partition solution. Those 213 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:34.440 who begun the war are responsible for its consequences, including the expulsion of Arabs 214 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:41.920 from places where they continued presence could have constituted a mortal danger to the young 215 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:48.160 state of Israel. Fighting for its very survival unquote. Also note that Israel 216 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:53.519 offered to take back one hundred thousand Palestinian refugees in nineteen forty nine, but 217 00:23:53.599 --> 00:24:00.240 that offer was rejected by the Arab states. Since then, these same Arab 218 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:07.119 countries have done nothing to help these refugees. They have treated them poorly and 219 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:14.839 use their existence as a public relations and political tool. If the Palestinians had 220 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:18.640 accepted the founding of two states in Palestine, or if they had not fled 221 00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:26.440 their homes, no refugee problem would have arisen. Indeed, the Jewish leadership 222 00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:32.400 based all of their ensuing decisions on their assumption that the Palestinians would remain equal 223 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:37.240 citizens of the new state of Israel. As David Ben Gurion, who would 224 00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:41.559 go on to be Israel's first Prime Minister, told the leadership of his party 225 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:47.319 in nineteen forty seven, quote, in our state, there will be non 226 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:51.599 Jews as well as Jews, and all of them will be equal citizens, 227 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:57.200 equal in everything without exception. That is, the states will be theirs as 228 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:06.680 well unquote. So by looking back at history, we see that the Arabs 229 00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:14.240 have been their aggressors. They have been the initiators of forced but some people 230 00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:19.039 argue that that was the past, and the Palestinians have suffered enough that they 231 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:26.079 have changed and that they now deserve their own state. Well, let's go 232 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:30.920 back to the evidence. In what way have they changed? Do they now 233 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:37.960 recognize the right of Israel to exist? Have they accepted the fact that the 234 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:45.720 initiation of force is not a means of negotiating? Absolutely not. The Palestinians 235 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:52.519 have chosen the worst, most lowly form of violence to pursue their cause, 236 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:59.920 indiscriminate terrorism, and for their leaders, they have chosen some of the bloodiest 237 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:07.480 terrorists in history. Yasir Araphat and the PLO have a long history of terrorism 238 00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:14.000 and violence. Over a span of thirty five years, Arphat and the PLO 239 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:19.720 have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Israeli, American, Lebanese and 240 00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:27.160 Palestinian civilians. Arfad has orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of Israeli school children, 241 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:34.400 the hijacking of airliners, countless car bombings, and death squad killings. In 242 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:41.279 recent years, Arphad has been using Hamas and Islami jihad as the arms of 243 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:48.359 terrorism. While he has pretended to be a peacemaker. Every Israeli compromise has 244 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:55.319 been met with more and more violence, violence used as a tool to pressure 245 00:26:55.400 --> 00:27:03.000 Israel to make even more concessions. Indeed, a Palestinian state under current conditions 246 00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:11.119 spells doom for Israel, because any such state would only serve as a beachhead 247 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:19.839 for terrorist activities against Israel. Alford's ultimate goal is not a small Palestinian state 248 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:26.200 in the West Bank and Gaza. Alford aims at the whole of Israel. 249 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:34.039 A Palestinian state is just the first step. The desire of the Palestinian leadership 250 00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:38.920 not to make peace with Israel and indeedja race it from the map, is 251 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:45.920 made further evidence when one listens to the radio stations sanctioned by the Palestinian authority, 252 00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:51.920 or when one reads the textbooks from which Palestinian children are being taught. 253 00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:59.599 As the commentator Daniel Pipes has observed, quote, school curriculum, camp activities, 254 00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:07.319 programming, and religious indoctrination all portray Israelis in a Nazi style way as 255 00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:17.000 subhuman beings worthy of killing unquote. As illustration in a televised public sermon in 256 00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:22.680 June of two thousand and one, a Palestinian religious leader declared, quote God 257 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:26.319 willing, this unjust state of Israel will be erased, this unjust state of 258 00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:33.039 the United States will be erased. Unquote. It is well documented that the 259 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:38.799 textbooks in Palestinian schools are filled with vile anti Semitism. They are also filled 260 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.640 with a rejection of any legitimacy for the state of Israel, and that, 261 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:51.960 to quote such a book, there is no alternative to destroying Israel unquote. 262 00:28:52.640 --> 00:29:00.160 Or in a fifth grade Arabic language text quote remember the final and inevitable result 263 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:06.200 will be the victory of the Muslims over the Jews unquote. And on a 264 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:14.680 popular children's TV show on Palestinian TV, a little girl sings in Arabic quote, 265 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:21.359 will sing my sister constantly about my life as a suicide warrior unquote, 266 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:27.559 as a teacher cheers on Bravo, Bravo. Now, these are just a 267 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:36.160 few of the many, many examples of the fierce hatred with which the Palestinian 268 00:29:36.319 --> 00:29:42.440 schools indoctrinate they youth. No surprise that Ramas and Islami Jihad have an easy 269 00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:48.839 time finding young Palestinians will need to give up their lives to make these ideas 270 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:56.960 come true. Thus, there is every reason to believe that the Palestinian leadership 271 00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:02.559 views a state in the West Bank and Gaza as just one more step towards 272 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:08.960 the complete annihilation of Israel. Indeed, our Phat himself has repeatedly said to 273 00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:15.519 his own people that any compromise with Israel is just one step towards the ultimate 274 00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:23.359 goal of an Arab Palestinian state that will take Israel's place. His continued sponsorship 275 00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:29.559 and use of terrorism, and rejection of any deals offered him I think prove 276 00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:36.759 is a ultimate aim. By choosing the road of violence against peaceful, free 277 00:30:36.839 --> 00:30:45.519 countries and preaching the virtues of violence to young Palestinians. Alphad and his regime 278 00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:52.119 have forfeited any claim, any legitimacy that they might have had to a country 279 00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:59.559 of their own. Only a sick and cynical world could grant such a man 280 00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:06.759 that Nobel Peace Prize. But some say this is all a result of the 281 00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:11.559 occupation. If given a state of their own, things would be different. 282 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:17.920 Well, what can we expect if the Palestinians have their own sovereign state? 283 00:31:18.759 --> 00:31:22.720 Can we expect the peace loving, freedom loving Palestinian country? Will it share 284 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:27.880 the West's respect for individual rights, the individual rights of its own citizens. 285 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:34.400 If so, maybe there's still some hope. Well, let's consider the track 286 00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:42.119 record of the current Palestinian authority, the temporary governing body of Gaza Strip and 287 00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:51.599 the West Bank. Our Foot is indeed the dictator of these areas and everything 288 00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:59.759 but title. Palestinians live in constant fear of having their property arbitrarily confiscated by 289 00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:06.640 our Arafats. Corrupt police force. Laws prohibiting free speech are common and are 290 00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:12.640 enforced brutally to silence those who oppose him. Our Fat shuts down radio and 291 00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:17.759 TV stations. Indeed, Palestinian media, there was free to express itself under 292 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:25.279 Israeli rule, is now forced to tow Arafat's party line. When Palestinian journalists 293 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:31.920 stray, they are detained, tortured, and sometimes murdered. Hundreds of dissenters 294 00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:38.240 of all strikes have suffered such a fate under Ourfat's regime. A few months 295 00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:45.880 ago, the media finally focused on another form of barbarism, that Palestinian authorities 296 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:52.400 are engaged in the torture and murder of so called collaborators. Just a few 297 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:58.799 months ago, a middle aged mother of six and her niece were brutally tortured 298 00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:05.200 and murdered by the authorities for supposedly collaborating with Israel. How did they know 299 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:12.880 that the women were collaborators because a relative again and the extreme torture accused these 300 00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:17.839 two women. This has been going on for over ten years in both the 301 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:23.799 West Bank and the Gaza Strip. We're even selling land to a Jew is 302 00:33:23.960 --> 00:33:34.720 reason for execution. Alfhad's current regime is barbaric and oppressive. One can logically 303 00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:40.240 predict the conditions in an independent Palestinian state would be even worse, since they 304 00:33:40.319 --> 00:33:45.440 will not be the focal point of international attention as they are right now. 305 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:52.640 Now, viewed in this context of dictatorial rule, the alleged right of the 306 00:33:52.720 --> 00:34:00.480 Palestinians the self determination is groundless. No group has a right to its own 307 00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:09.559 state if what it seeks is a dictatorship. Arafat's Palestinian self determination really means 308 00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:17.360 more of Arafat's despotism. It means granting legitimacy to a state that is utterly 309 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:25.079 hostile to its own citizens. As Einrand wrote, quote, the right of 310 00:34:25.159 --> 00:34:34.079 the self determination of nations applies only to free societies or to society seeking to 311 00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:43.039 establish freedom. It does not apply to dictatorships. The only legitimate reason to 312 00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:51.039 found a new state is to escape tyranny and secure freedom. Thus, America's 313 00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:58.039 founding fathers rightly fought for independence from England's oppressive rule. The United States was 314 00:34:58.119 --> 00:35:04.840 founded on the recognition of individual rights. A country's right to exist as a 315 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:14.039 separate political entity is derid from the individual rights of its citizens. A regime 316 00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:17.960 like that in Iraq, for example, and much of the Middle East, 317 00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:27.519 unfortunately, that denies its own citizens their individual rights has no right to exist 318 00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:37.440 itself. What Palestinians desire is the right to be rightless serves in a state 319 00:35:37.639 --> 00:35:44.119 run by a ruthless dictator. Now, nobody has a right to create and 320 00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:50.320 maintain such a state. Palestinians would be better off staying un the Israeli rule, 321 00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:55.239 as some Palestinians will admit when they feel safe to do so. Under 322 00:35:55.280 --> 00:36:00.280 Israeli rule, their rights are protected to a much greater extent than they would 323 00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:08.679 under the Palestinian authorities authoritarian regime. Indeed, Palestinians rely on the relative economic 324 00:36:08.760 --> 00:36:15.960 freedom and prosperity offered in Israel to make their living. They protest whenever Israel 325 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:22.559 closes its borders because they are out of work. In contrast to what has 326 00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:27.519 been achieved in Israel, the Palestinians have created very little of their own, 327 00:36:28.199 --> 00:36:35.119 not under Jordanian rule pre nineteen sixty seven and not since now. Israel also 328 00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:43.519 offers Palestinians more precious values than merely economic ones. What Arab country gives its 329 00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:49.679 inhabitants the liberty to protest, to publish articles and books opposing the government, 330 00:36:50.280 --> 00:36:55.679 as many Jews and Arabs do in Israel. What Arab country has free elections 331 00:36:55.800 --> 00:37:00.960 or a judicial system in which all are treated ea fully before the law. 332 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:07.639 In one Arab country can so called occupied people rely on the law and protest 333 00:37:07.719 --> 00:37:13.119 their fate all the way up to the Supreme Court, as those Palestinians under 334 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:20.559 Israeli control still can none, not a single Arab country. It Israel. 335 00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:27.800 Palestinians have more freedom, more economic opportunities than they have in any other Arab 336 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:34.639 country, and they and then they could possibly have in a future Palestinian state, 337 00:37:35.960 --> 00:37:40.159 if the choices between a Palestinian state run by terrorists like our Foot and 338 00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:45.880 remaining under Israeli rule, the latter is by far the better option for the 339 00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:54.599 Palestinians Now, if the Palestinians were serious about having their own state, their 340 00:37:54.639 --> 00:38:01.800 own free state, they would start by deposing and resting Yasarafa for his crimes 341 00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:08.280 against his own people. In place of the terrorists now representing them, Palestinians 342 00:38:08.280 --> 00:38:15.920 should send to the negotiating table representatives who believe in and honor individual rights, 343 00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:22.920 leaders who plan to establish a free, civilized country where violence is abhorred and 344 00:38:23.119 --> 00:38:31.400 suppressed. Palestinians should treat Israel as an older and wiser neighbor from whom they 345 00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:38.159 have much to learn, rather than as an enemy to be destroyed. Only 346 00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:45.400 when Palestinians are willing to negotiate with Israel on such terms will they have earned 347 00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:52.960 the right to a state of their own. Now, given this background information, 348 00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:59.000 it should be no surprise I think that the peace process has been such 349 00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:07.000 a complete disaster. Just as the mal is practical, so the imor is 350 00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:14.360 impractical. And at the heart of the peace process is the immorl premise that 351 00:39:14.400 --> 00:39:20.920 there is a mal equivalence between Israel and her enemy. But as we have 352 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:28.159 seen, Israel and the Palestinians are not moral equals. Israel is in the 353 00:39:28.280 --> 00:39:35.519 right, the Palestinians are the aggressors, and any compromise between good and evil 354 00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:40.440 means bleeding the goods to feed the evil. Any compromise between Israel and the 355 00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:51.639 Palestinians hurts Israel and emboldens the radical militant forces within the Palestinians. Although the 356 00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:57.159 Land for Peace doctrine, which is the essence of the peace process, seems 357 00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:05.039 to offer a mutually advantageous settlement, it is a deception. A necessary condition 358 00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:12.280 for peace is the cessation of Arab violence, particularly terrorism, but to attain 359 00:40:12.719 --> 00:40:16.320 it. To attain the cessation of violence, Israel is supposed to surrender territory 360 00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:22.320 is crucial to its continued security. Territory is the war won in a war 361 00:40:22.519 --> 00:40:28.440 instigated by Arab countries in nineteen sixty seven. To attain land, however, 362 00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:36.079 the Arabs are supposed to concede nothing. They need only withdraw the use of 363 00:40:36.119 --> 00:40:44.199 force. Like any aggressive they are in essence holding Israel hostage, and like 364 00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:50.559 any victim, Israel by paying the ransom, gains no value. Then they 365 00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:55.760 did not already have a right to the implication of such a trade. Land 366 00:40:55.920 --> 00:41:01.400 for Peace, sanctioned by both America and Israel over the last thirty years, 367 00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:08.559 implicit in This idea is that Israel is in the wrong, that Israel is 368 00:41:08.800 --> 00:41:16.159 the aggressor and owe's restitution to its Arab neighbors. If Israel is in the 369 00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:22.440 rights, why must concede. Israel won the contested land in a wolf of 370 00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:28.239 self defense, so why should it give it back. Far from securing peace, 371 00:41:29.199 --> 00:41:37.000 compromises only weaken Israel and embolden its enemies. When Nazi Germany was appeased 372 00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:42.440 in nineteen thirty eight by being allowed to claim Czechoslovakia as part of the Aryan 373 00:41:42.519 --> 00:41:47.960 People's Homeland, an earlier version of Land for Peace, the result was to 374 00:41:49.079 --> 00:41:57.159 encourage Hitler to start a World War America and Israel must recognize that peace cannot 375 00:41:57.239 --> 00:42:02.159 be achieved by surrendering to those US who are relentlessly opposed to the existence of 376 00:42:02.199 --> 00:42:06.960 the State of Israel and who are hostile to the value of freedom in Israel 377 00:42:07.400 --> 00:42:10.920 and for that matter, in their own countries. Thirty years of the Land 378 00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:15.800 for Peace doctrine have left Israel with the best a cold peace with some of 379 00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:23.000 its neighbors, but also it is left it vulnerable to Arab hostility. Hatred 380 00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:30.280 of Israel has increased, along with a decrease in the respect it once engendered. 381 00:42:30.239 --> 00:42:36.559 This process is accelerated since the beginning of the hostile peace process in nineteen 382 00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:43.519 ninety three. Indeed, since since Ourphats returned to the West Bank and Gaze 383 00:42:43.559 --> 00:42:50.000 in nineteen ninety four, Israel has seen nothing but an intensification of the violence 384 00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:58.159 and hatred against it. And what was the Palestinian's response to the complete capitulation 385 00:42:58.719 --> 00:43:04.280 of the Israeli Prime Minister Ailoed Baroque in Camp David, where Alferd was offered 386 00:43:04.599 --> 00:43:08.800 a Palestinian state on ninety seven percent of the land that he demanded. Well, 387 00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:15.599 since then, Israel has been in a state of undeclared war. It's 388 00:43:15.719 --> 00:43:21.679 six million civilians have suffered over twelve thousand, five hundred terrorist attacks. They 389 00:43:21.679 --> 00:43:27.199 have buried more than five hundred victims, a per capita death toll that is 390 00:43:27.239 --> 00:43:35.760 more than six times that of September eleventh. Escalation of violence is the consequence 391 00:43:35.800 --> 00:43:43.960 of dealing, negotiating, compromising with terrorists. It is a consequence of rewarding 392 00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:52.800 violence. It is the consequence of the peace process. Since Ostler, Israel 393 00:43:52.840 --> 00:43:57.400 has appeared and acted week it has dealt with the Palestinians with kid gloves. 394 00:43:57.920 --> 00:44:04.360 It withdrew in humiliating facs from Lebanon, and it is shown ever weakening mal 395 00:44:04.440 --> 00:44:09.880 assuredness in its cause. How many last opportunities has Israel given yes or our 396 00:44:09.880 --> 00:44:19.039 offer? How many times has it sworn to end Palestinian terrorism. Israel's concessions, 397 00:44:19.800 --> 00:44:27.079 Israel's weakness, rather than discouraging hostility, have indeed made the conflict worse 398 00:44:27.320 --> 00:44:37.800 and abought Israel much harm. Now much of this harm, indeed, much 399 00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:42.760 of the compromise, much of their appeasement, has been at the urging of 400 00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:49.239 Israel's so called ally, the United States. Now there is a whole history 401 00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:54.800 of America pressuring Israel to concede, to compromise, to withdraw when it should 402 00:44:54.840 --> 00:45:00.480 not. Have a whole history of the US harming Israel interests. Now you 403 00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:04.519 can ask me about this history in the Q and A. I just want 404 00:45:04.559 --> 00:45:08.840 to focus on the last decade or so. In recent times. There was 405 00:45:08.880 --> 00:45:14.920 America that prompted Israel to begin negotiating with our fat in nineteen ninety three, 406 00:45:15.519 --> 00:45:20.840 and since then it has pressured Israel to give more and more, culminating in 407 00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:27.360 the complete Israeli capitulation in Camp David two years ago, and over the last 408 00:45:27.360 --> 00:45:31.639 two years, every time Israel acts in self defense against the Palestinian authority, 409 00:45:32.039 --> 00:45:37.159 it is the Bush administration that keeps holding them back and forcing them to retreat. 410 00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:46.280 This in spite of the fact that after every such retreat terrorism spikes. 411 00:45:46.840 --> 00:45:52.719 It is outrageous that in the midst of its own war on terrorism, the 412 00:45:52.960 --> 00:46:00.000 US is forcing Israel to negotiate and compromise with terrorists. In spite of the 413 00:46:00.039 --> 00:46:07.000 fact that when Israel is tough, terrorism against it declines, America continues to 414 00:46:07.079 --> 00:46:13.599 rebuke Israel when it acts in self defense. Note how the US has pressured 415 00:46:13.639 --> 00:46:20.519 Israel into withdrawing from Arafat's compound twice during the last year. Well. Notice 416 00:46:20.559 --> 00:46:27.679 the scandal about six nine months ago over Israel's assassination of the Hamas terrorist leader 417 00:46:27.880 --> 00:46:35.239 Selishadata. The Palestinian authority refused to arrest him, even though he was responsible 418 00:46:35.280 --> 00:46:40.079 for organizing and funding suicide bombings. The scale of his evil is comparable to 419 00:46:40.119 --> 00:46:46.039 that of Bin Laden, As Israel rightly pointed out this quote, military action 420 00:46:46.159 --> 00:46:52.519 against one of the most dangerous Hamask terrorist leaders was a justified action of self 421 00:46:52.559 --> 00:47:00.000 defense unquote. The day after the bombing, which also killed fourteen civilians. 422 00:47:00.679 --> 00:47:06.760 Israel called the mission a success. President Bush, however, sharply condemned it 423 00:47:06.800 --> 00:47:12.440 as heavy handed and a barrier to peace. Bush was not alone in this 424 00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:16.800 condemnation. Echoing him were the leaders of Europe, the UK included, and 425 00:47:16.840 --> 00:47:23.559 the UN General Secretary. The British called it unacceptable and counterproductive. Forty eight 426 00:47:23.599 --> 00:47:30.480 hours later, Israel issued a mealy mouthed topology for the attack. Now that 427 00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:37.800 I submit is not the face of a country certain of its morrow rights to 428 00:47:37.880 --> 00:47:43.840 defend itself, Nor is such criticism from the United States the action of a 429 00:47:43.960 --> 00:47:51.519 true ally. And not only as America doing an enormous injustice to Israel, 430 00:47:52.159 --> 00:47:58.320 but it is also committing an enormous injustice to its own citizens. By weakening 431 00:47:58.400 --> 00:48:05.320 Israel, America's damaged its own national self interest. America has been propping up 432 00:48:05.360 --> 00:48:12.039 regimes around the Middle East that have supported terrorism and supported anti American actions until 433 00:48:12.119 --> 00:48:16.840 recently. It has done nothing in response to Islami terrorism against US interests, 434 00:48:17.280 --> 00:48:22.159 And how could it when for years it has been telling Israel that it had 435 00:48:22.199 --> 00:48:28.320 no right to do the same. The US has sacrificed its western ally, 436 00:48:28.719 --> 00:48:31.639 the one island of civilization in the Middle East, in the name of what. 437 00:48:34.440 --> 00:48:37.239 In the name of appeasement, in the name of short term gain. 438 00:48:38.320 --> 00:48:45.719 America has hoped for decades that if it is nice to the Arabs, they 439 00:48:45.760 --> 00:48:51.760 will support us. They have hoped that by pressuring Israel, by arming the 440 00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:55.239 Egyptians, the Saudis, and the Jordanians, they will gain friends in the 441 00:48:55.239 --> 00:49:01.079 Middle East. They hope that all this would secure the supply and reduce the 442 00:49:01.119 --> 00:49:07.960 threat of terrorism. All this has all failed, as September eleventh proved. 443 00:49:07.880 --> 00:49:15.039 Yet we continue to indicate our interest in trying to buy Arab sympathy with Israeli 444 00:49:15.360 --> 00:49:24.960 blood. The tragic fact is that America's relationship with Israel indeed made September eleventh 445 00:49:25.039 --> 00:49:31.400 possible. Evidence in our advice to Israel, in our advocacy of the peace 446 00:49:31.519 --> 00:49:37.159 process, in our endless calls for Israel to appease its enemies. Evidence in 447 00:49:37.199 --> 00:49:45.159 America's action is our own moral weakness been laden had ample evidence to believe that 448 00:49:45.199 --> 00:49:52.199 the United States would not retaliate in significant fashion. After all, haven't we 449 00:49:52.400 --> 00:49:59.960 for decades told Israel to appease terrorists? If our fat the father of Internet 450 00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:05.559 national terrorism, could be invited to the White House, what would America possibly 451 00:50:05.679 --> 00:50:13.159 do to its own terrorists. If America stopped Israel from retaliating against our fight, 452 00:50:13.800 --> 00:50:21.239 how could it morally justify retaliating against its terrorists. If Israel is unjustified 453 00:50:21.280 --> 00:50:30.079 and assassinating a Musk terrorist leader, how can America justify assassinating its terrorist nemesies. 454 00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:37.800 Now, this hypocrisy, this double standard, has only weakened America's mall 455 00:50:37.960 --> 00:50:45.320 confidence in its warn terrorism and emboldened its enemies. American pressure on its Western 456 00:50:45.320 --> 00:50:52.960 ally to compromise and appease can be interpreted in only one way. That it 457 00:50:52.760 --> 00:50:59.280 America holds compromise and appeasement of supreme that if attack, it is likely to 458 00:50:59.400 --> 00:51:06.480 negotiate rather than retaliate. Indeed, just as we forbid Israel to retaliate against 459 00:51:06.559 --> 00:51:12.400 terrorist attacks. So again, until very recently, we have done nothing in 460 00:51:12.480 --> 00:51:16.880 response to the Islamic terrorism against the United States. September eleventh was not the 461 00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:22.039 first terrorist to act against America. Do you recall what we did in retaliation 462 00:51:22.360 --> 00:51:27.800 for the attacks on the USS coal or the US embassies in Kenesy and Tanzania, 463 00:51:28.440 --> 00:51:34.079 or the US soldiers in the barracks in Saudi Arabia, or the attack 464 00:51:34.119 --> 00:51:37.679 on the World Trade Center nineteen ninety three, or the pan Am Flight one 465 00:51:37.760 --> 00:51:40.320 oh three, or the two hundred and forty four Marines who died in Beiruts 466 00:51:40.480 --> 00:51:46.199 in a suicide bombing in nineteen eighty three. Do you recall what we did? 467 00:51:47.039 --> 00:51:53.360 Well, probably you don't, because we didn't do anything. Bush's announcement 468 00:51:54.000 --> 00:52:00.960 after September eleventh, and again this week that he supports a Palestinian state and 469 00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:07.679 that he supports the Roadmap further undermines his credibility in the fight on terrorism. 470 00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:14.639 How can he, on one hand reward and arch terrorists and create a new 471 00:52:15.119 --> 00:52:20.760 terrorist sponsoring country, and on the other hand claim to seek the eradication of 472 00:52:20.880 --> 00:52:25.199 terrorism from the world. This hypocrisy is not missed on the Arab world. 473 00:52:25.239 --> 00:52:31.000 The white people like being lauden. A year ago, President Bush proclaimed an 474 00:52:31.119 --> 00:52:37.440 ultimatum to the world, either you're with us or you're with the terrorists. 475 00:52:37.679 --> 00:52:43.800 Although Israel is clearly with us, we have all too often treated it as 476 00:52:43.800 --> 00:52:49.440 if it were against us. America, its critics say, oh September eleventh 477 00:52:49.800 --> 00:52:55.320 to its support of Israel. Yes, America shortsighted, unprincipled support of Israel 478 00:52:55.960 --> 00:53:02.119 has in fact done untold harm to Israel and untold harm to America's interests. 479 00:53:04.639 --> 00:53:08.360 Our failing was that we did not provide Israel, the true victim of this 480 00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:13.840 conflict, with enough support. Our failing was that we were moral cowards. 481 00:53:14.280 --> 00:53:19.280 We feared declaring one side of the conflict good and the other side evil. 482 00:53:21.360 --> 00:53:28.079 Being moral cowards in politics means that we counsel and practice appeasement towards our enemies. 483 00:53:29.039 --> 00:53:35.760 Terrorists can sense our weakness. That they struck us is no surprise our 484 00:53:35.840 --> 00:53:43.880 failings have invited such attacks. Now, there is no such thing as the 485 00:53:43.920 --> 00:53:50.599 peace process. Peace cannot be achieved by the just compromising with its enemies. 486 00:53:51.400 --> 00:53:58.360 Peace requires that the perpetrator of violence, the initiated a force, stop all 487 00:53:58.639 --> 00:54:05.320 acts of aggression and prove, over time and with unequivocal evidence, that it 488 00:54:05.400 --> 00:54:12.199 has truly forsaken violence as a means for achieving its goals. Only then, 489 00:54:12.960 --> 00:54:19.440 only when violence has ceased, can peace be discussed. Every attempt in history 490 00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:28.519 to circumvent this requirement has landed in disaster. If America is serious about its 491 00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:34.360 war on terrorism and its desire for peace in Israel, it must take decisive 492 00:54:34.519 --> 00:54:39.639 action to reverse the mistakes that have been made over the last few decades. 493 00:54:40.800 --> 00:54:46.039 The US must make it clear that it does not view Israel and its Arab 494 00:54:46.119 --> 00:54:52.599 neighbors as morally equal. Israel is a free, Western and peaceful state. 495 00:54:53.840 --> 00:55:01.480 As such, it is America's only true ally in a region dominate by despotism. 496 00:55:01.519 --> 00:55:07.239 Only Israel shares America's values and can be counted on in a true crisis. 497 00:55:08.079 --> 00:55:14.039 The quality of our alliances with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for example, 498 00:55:14.320 --> 00:55:21.119 is being made clear now during this current crisis. These are regimes we cannot 499 00:55:21.360 --> 00:55:27.960 trust. They have an r turning a blind eye to Islamic terrorism against the 500 00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:34.840 West, and in some cases are actually financing this terrorism. In the name 501 00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:42.480 of both what is right and what is practically necessary, America's Maral evaluation must 502 00:55:42.559 --> 00:55:50.840 be made explicit and clear. The US must allow and encourage Israel to destroy 503 00:55:51.239 --> 00:55:58.320 Palestinian terrorism once and for all. They must be no further concessions, no 504 00:55:58.599 --> 00:56:05.280 discussions with Effort and other Palestinian terrorists. America should also make sure that Israel 505 00:56:05.360 --> 00:56:12.639 maintains its military superiority in the region. This can be achieved by eliminating the 506 00:56:12.760 --> 00:56:20.119 military assistance that America provides Arab countries like Egypt. It is important to the 507 00:56:20.360 --> 00:56:27.840 US that Israel be perceived by the Arab world as strong, indestructible, and 508 00:56:27.960 --> 00:56:34.320 supported one hundred percent by the United States. It must be made clear to 509 00:56:34.400 --> 00:56:40.039 the Arab States and to the Palestinians that they must reconcile themselves to the very 510 00:56:40.159 --> 00:56:46.320 existence of Israel, that they must stop all acts of hostility and show a 511 00:56:46.440 --> 00:56:53.079 real intention for peace. The oners must be put on their aggressors to show 512 00:56:53.320 --> 00:56:59.159 that their intentions are real. Thus, the oners must be put on the 513 00:56:59.199 --> 00:57:07.840 Arab States. Ultimately, a strong, confident Israel is vital to US interest 514 00:57:07.880 --> 00:57:12.920 in the Middle East. It is crucial to our fight against terrorism, to 515 00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:17.360 the elimination of unconventional weapons in the high hands of despots like Saddam Hussein, 516 00:57:17.960 --> 00:57:24.840 and to the protection of the flow of oil to the West. America's unequivocal 517 00:57:24.880 --> 00:57:30.159 support of Israel will send a message that we support our allies in deeds, 518 00:57:30.360 --> 00:57:36.559 not just in words, that we support the Western values that our allies share 519 00:57:36.599 --> 00:57:44.440 with us. More fundamentally, by supporting our allies on principle, we broadcast 520 00:57:44.639 --> 00:57:53.119 loudly that we oppose terrorism absolutely on principle and in action. But it is 521 00:57:53.199 --> 00:58:00.400 not enough for America to rely on Israel, especially after September eleventh. America 522 00:58:00.559 --> 00:58:07.480 needs to continue asserting itself in the Middle East. A US that unequivocally supports 523 00:58:07.559 --> 00:58:15.519 Israel and pursues its own self interest confidently and forcefully in the Middle East will 524 00:58:15.559 --> 00:58:21.639 actually gain respect in the Arab world. It will be perceived as a power 525 00:58:22.079 --> 00:58:25.800 that should not be fooled with. It will show the world that we are 526 00:58:25.800 --> 00:58:31.239 committed to the values of Western civilization and that we will defend them to our 527 00:58:31.360 --> 00:58:39.039 last breath, and that we will not yield on those values. Such uncompromising 528 00:58:39.079 --> 00:58:50.360 commitment to freedom and to Western values is the most powerful weapon we possess now. 529 00:58:50.480 --> 00:58:53.719 Ultimately, peace will come to the Arab world, to the Middle East 530 00:58:54.519 --> 00:59:02.199 only when they adopt Western values, values of reason, individual rights, and 531 00:59:02.280 --> 00:59:10.519 freedom. Until the Arab populace is free, free of political enslavement by their 532 00:59:10.559 --> 00:59:17.599 own governments, and free from the mysticism of Islamic fundamentalism, no peace is 533 00:59:17.679 --> 00:59:23.920 going to be possible. Only when the Arab world experiences the equivalent of the 534 00:59:24.039 --> 00:59:30.559 Enlightenment, a rediscovery of reason, will it rise above its Middle Ages culture, 535 00:59:31.840 --> 00:59:37.679 whether they like it or not. The solution to Arab poverty to Arab 536 00:59:37.719 --> 00:59:45.159 political plight to Arab frustration. Is the West and what it represents. Not 537 00:59:45.880 --> 00:59:52.880 the West's destruction has been Ladden would suggest, but the West's victory the adoption 538 00:59:52.159 --> 00:59:59.440 of the West by the East. But for this to happen, we in 539 00:59:59.480 --> 01:00:05.039 the West must first believe in our own values. If we continue to reject 540 01:00:05.079 --> 01:00:08.880 our own Western heritage, we can expect little from the rest of the world. 541 01:00:09.639 --> 01:00:16.480 A rediscovery, a renaissance of reason is first needed. Here. We 542 01:00:16.599 --> 01:00:23.519 must rediscover our values and reignite the just pride we once had in them. 543 01:00:24.039 --> 01:00:43.960 The future of the world depends on it. Thank you, Thank you again, 544 01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:46.519 doctor Brooke. We'll now have about forty five minutes for Q and A, 545 01:00:47.159 --> 01:00:50.679 and I'll just come around with the microphone. So go ahead and stand 546 01:00:50.719 --> 01:01:00.199 up if you have a question, and I'll get to you. For one 547 01:01:00.280 --> 01:01:05.079 is always the hardest. Who's standing raise your hand? Am Okay, you're 548 01:01:05.119 --> 01:01:09.000 standing for a question. I'm sorry, go ahead. There is no such 549 01:01:09.119 --> 01:01:15.920 thing as collective. But there is also no such thing as collective. Get 550 01:01:19.280 --> 01:01:29.039 suppose there is an individual, a man in the mind, born a what 551 01:01:29.159 --> 01:01:38.559 are his minds? Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, an individual 552 01:01:38.719 --> 01:01:47.280 born in a totalitarian regime or born to leaders that are that violate his rights 553 01:01:47.719 --> 01:01:53.400 will suffer from that violation. Uh. Somebody born into Nazi Germany, whether 554 01:01:53.400 --> 01:01:58.840 it's Jewish or otherwise, is going to suffer the consequence of not of the 555 01:01:58.960 --> 01:02:06.519 Nazis of Hitler's both from the Nazis and farm Western bombing of German cities and 556 01:02:06.920 --> 01:02:12.679 moral people. Somebody morow who lives in Palestine, who's completely rational, would 557 01:02:12.800 --> 01:02:20.079 seek the annihilation of the Palestinian authority. Somebody in that position would seek to 558 01:02:20.199 --> 01:02:22.360 move to Israel if they could, or to move to the West to the 559 01:02:22.400 --> 01:02:29.840 extent that they can. Israel will admit him under certain circumstances. Absolutely, 560 01:02:30.199 --> 01:02:37.679 But more fundamentally, such a person would completely understand Israeli aggression in its own 561 01:02:37.679 --> 01:02:44.559 self defense and would actually start up a Palestinian resistance movement fighting yes off in 562 01:02:44.639 --> 01:02:50.440 his own regime and help the Israelis to do it. Look, there were 563 01:02:50.519 --> 01:02:58.719 lots of people in Iraq who didn't share Saddam Hussein's a fanatical you know, 564 01:02:59.519 --> 01:03:07.039 despert. Yet a lot of civilians died who might have been innocent. People 565 01:03:07.079 --> 01:03:12.119 who live in a country suffer the consequences of their own leadership and I'd say 566 01:03:12.159 --> 01:03:15.960 they suffer it doubly so if they don't actually rise up and try and get 567 01:03:16.039 --> 01:03:21.239 rid of that leader. But even if they do and they fail, they 568 01:03:21.239 --> 01:03:24.280 are still going to suffer when they get killed by an America coming into Yoko 569 01:03:24.320 --> 01:03:28.800 on America, coming into Japan, on America, coming into Nazi Germany. 570 01:03:29.400 --> 01:03:36.719 That's life. Yeah, next question, I have to follow the mic. 571 01:03:37.519 --> 01:03:44.400 Well, my question might sound a little bit off face, but it really 572 01:03:44.440 --> 01:03:46.800 isn't because I disagree with you a little bit. Sure, Okay, what 573 01:03:46.880 --> 01:03:52.559 about the status of Jerusalem the United States Senate. I believe the Congress voted 574 01:03:53.199 --> 01:03:59.119 to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. And I understand your secular I am 575 01:03:59.199 --> 01:04:02.400 mirandos. I am a libertarian, but I am not secular when I am 576 01:04:02.440 --> 01:04:10.280 a Jew, and I believe that Jerusalem is all of Jerusalem belongs to the 577 01:04:10.320 --> 01:04:14.840 State of Israel. It is the capital. And that's my own belief. 578 01:04:14.880 --> 01:04:16.599 And I wanted to hear what you had to say. Thank you. Oh, 579 01:04:16.679 --> 01:04:20.559 I mean, I agree with you that Israel should decide what its own 580 01:04:20.639 --> 01:04:25.280 capital should be. And as I said, Jerusalem, just like the rest 581 01:04:25.280 --> 01:04:28.840 of the West Bank, was one in a war of self defense and Therefore, 582 01:04:28.920 --> 01:04:31.239 unequivocally, Israel has a right to that land if it chooses to keep 583 01:04:31.280 --> 01:04:38.480 it, and if it chooses to establish its capital in the entire Jerusalem area, 584 01:04:38.599 --> 01:04:43.039 it has every right to do that. It owes no obligation to the 585 01:04:43.079 --> 01:04:46.639 Christians, or to the Muslims, or to anybody else. So I agree, 586 01:04:46.639 --> 01:04:50.239 for secular reasons, not for religious reasons, that I believe that a 587 01:04:50.360 --> 01:04:55.480 state has a right to determine its own capital, and that Israel has a 588 01:04:55.559 --> 01:04:59.119 right to determine Jerusalem as its capital. And again, I think the United 589 01:04:59.159 --> 01:05:03.119 States moving its embassy from juisdem to Tel Aviv was another sign of American weakness, 590 01:05:03.480 --> 01:05:08.559 another step towards emboldening. They have a bold in the Muslim world against 591 01:05:08.599 --> 01:05:12.719 the United States. It just showed that the United States could be bullied by 592 01:05:12.760 --> 01:05:16.960 a few weak Arab countries. The guy in the back there's been standing from 593 01:05:16.960 --> 01:05:24.719 the beginning, wait for the mic, because no, they won't they need 594 01:05:24.719 --> 01:05:33.639 the mic. Since we were in a medical center, I figured I should 595 01:05:33.639 --> 01:05:40.000 add a little bit of a medical information to your speech, and being a 596 01:05:40.039 --> 01:05:43.960 graduate of PEN I feel almost an obligation to do that. I'm actually a 597 01:05:44.000 --> 01:05:46.719 resident in the Department of orthopedics next door, and let me just give you 598 01:05:46.760 --> 01:05:51.920 some facts and you can interpret them on your own. Since September of two 599 01:05:51.960 --> 01:05:58.480 thousand, fifty two women have given birth at Israeli checkpoints. Twenty nine of 600 01:05:58.519 --> 01:06:03.960 those women aborted. Since September two thousand, thirty five ambulance drivers have been 601 01:06:04.000 --> 01:06:11.320 shot and killed at checkpoints. Since September of two thousand, ninety five human 602 01:06:11.360 --> 01:06:17.440 beings have died at checkpoints, coming in and out, unfortunately unable to reach 603 01:06:17.840 --> 01:06:24.840 hospitals or physicians to give them adequate care. Since September two thousand, seven 604 01:06:24.960 --> 01:06:31.440 hundred and thirty five ambulances have been shot at and destroyed at checkpoints. My 605 01:06:31.559 --> 01:06:38.960 rhetoric regarding terrorism unfortunately seems unfounded because there doesn't appear to be any data that 606 01:06:39.000 --> 01:06:46.960 you cite. I did Site twelve twelve thousand, five hundred years more information 607 01:06:47.039 --> 01:06:51.800 on what you consider terrorism. In light of those facts, well, I 608 01:06:51.880 --> 01:06:56.199 think that I I mean, I'm not going to dispute the facts that you 609 01:06:56.599 --> 01:06:59.239 presented. I don't know if that you or not, but I'll assume that 610 01:06:59.280 --> 01:07:01.920 they're No. I'll assume that they're true because I have no problem with those 611 01:07:01.920 --> 01:07:08.480 facts. Every drop of blood shed in those incidents and in many many others 612 01:07:08.480 --> 01:07:13.639 that you didn't cite, because clearly more Palestinians have died since December two thousand, 613 01:07:13.719 --> 01:07:15.679 or any of those dates, any date that you would pick, then 614 01:07:15.719 --> 01:07:20.039 Israeli's clearly more Palestinians have died. There's no question about that. Every drop 615 01:07:20.079 --> 01:07:27.280 of blood is the fault of the Palestinians themselves. Every drop of blood is 616 01:07:27.320 --> 01:07:32.079 the more responsibility of the Palestinians' leaders who have brought them to the state. 617 01:07:32.239 --> 01:07:38.079 Every drop of blood is the responsibility the Hamas and the Islami Giad suicide bombers. 618 01:07:38.519 --> 01:07:42.360 If you see an ambulance, an ambulance doesn't stop at a checkpoint, 619 01:07:42.639 --> 01:07:47.119 and you know that Palestinians have used ambulances to do a suicide bombings, you 620 01:07:47.199 --> 01:07:53.119 shoot at that ambulance absolutely, and I completely think that that is justified. 621 01:07:53.679 --> 01:07:58.519 If you know that without those checkpoints, without stopping people at checkpoints and searching 622 01:07:58.559 --> 01:08:01.920 those ambulance, you know that a building in Tel Avion could be blown up, 623 01:08:02.639 --> 01:08:05.559 you better stop them at the checkpoint and you better search them. And 624 01:08:05.599 --> 01:08:10.639 if anybody dies, If anybody dies, it's on the hands of yes Arpa 625 01:08:11.719 --> 01:08:17.239 and the Yesha has had hundreds of opportunities to renounce terrorism, to change his 626 01:08:17.319 --> 01:08:23.359 ways to work towards peace, and he has rejected and turned his back on 627 01:08:23.399 --> 01:08:28.840 if you one of those, because that's not what he wants. So the 628 01:08:29.399 --> 01:08:33.680 terrorism is absolutely one sided. All of these incidents that you mentioned are acts 629 01:08:33.680 --> 01:08:38.840 of self defense of Israeli self defense. I remember not that long ago, 630 01:08:39.359 --> 01:08:43.079 fifteen years ago, there were no checkpoints in the Wist bankers. There were 631 01:08:43.079 --> 01:08:47.279 no checkpoints in the wisbank. The twelve year old kids are shot with M 632 01:08:47.279 --> 01:08:53.319 sixteen's because they are placed. Well, let me answer that there are some 633 01:08:53.399 --> 01:08:58.520 twelve year olds who do get shot by M sixteens. Why because next to 634 01:08:58.600 --> 01:09:02.520 them is standing at Palestinian with the Kalechnikov shooting at Israeli soldiers. It is 635 01:09:02.560 --> 01:09:08.279 the responsibility of the Palestinians who put twelve year old children in the line of 636 01:09:08.319 --> 01:09:12.720 fire on purpose, so they will die while the TV cameras are rolling, 637 01:09:12.920 --> 01:09:16.479 so that the West will get upset. It is the responsibility of Palestinian parents 638 01:09:16.840 --> 01:09:24.359 who send their children out there to be killed purposefully for this purpose. That 639 01:09:24.600 --> 01:09:29.199 is the atrocity. The atrocity is that the Palestinians put their children in harm's 640 01:09:29.239 --> 01:09:34.880 way on purpose. They are the terrorists. They were at a tank. 641 01:09:36.319 --> 01:09:41.600 They were not This is all. This is all propaganda and nonsense. Twelve 642 01:09:41.680 --> 01:09:45.760 year old kids are not just shot, you know, because the Israelis, 643 01:09:45.800 --> 01:09:56.680 because the Israeli tank can't get through. This is propaganda. You say the 644 01:09:56.720 --> 01:10:01.720 text books that the children, the Palestinian children are following our preaching hatred for 645 01:10:01.840 --> 01:10:08.840 Israel. I mean these young children can't discern between the truth and the non 646 01:10:08.920 --> 01:10:13.800 truth. Then the renaissance in that world is going to be a long time 647 01:10:13.800 --> 01:10:18.880 in coming. Absolutely, the renaissance in that world is going to be a 648 01:10:18.920 --> 01:10:23.680 long time in coming. And I think that you will see evidence of that. 649 01:10:24.319 --> 01:10:26.600 You know, if I can make a prediction, you can always call 650 01:10:26.640 --> 01:10:31.119 me on it afterwards. I think that these attempts to create democracy out of 651 01:10:31.159 --> 01:10:34.199 no way in you walk right now are going to fail. They might not 652 01:10:34.239 --> 01:10:38.319 fail short term, we might see a few years of democracy, but long 653 01:10:38.399 --> 01:10:45.640 term they will fail. You cannot bring about political freedom divorced of its requirements. 654 01:10:45.520 --> 01:10:49.239 The West didn't get political freedom in the Middle Ages. The West didn't 655 01:10:49.239 --> 01:10:54.479 even get political freedom in the Renaissance. When did the West get political freedom 656 01:10:54.920 --> 01:11:02.319 after the Enlightenment after a whole generation went through a period that raised reason out 657 01:11:02.359 --> 01:11:08.439 of where the Christians that buried it during the Middle Ages raised reason and put 658 01:11:08.479 --> 01:11:12.479 it on its pees distal, as Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers indeed did 659 01:11:12.560 --> 01:11:15.760 with the founding of this country. That's what made freedom possible in the West. 660 01:11:16.079 --> 01:11:19.239 And for the Islamic qual to become free, political, free, which 661 01:11:19.239 --> 01:11:24.239 I hope they do one day, they need to go through an enlightenment. 662 01:11:24.319 --> 01:11:28.760 They need to go through a rebirth of reason, Reason which once was prevalent 663 01:11:28.880 --> 01:11:32.079 in the Middle East during the ninth and thirteenth century when they had their Golden 664 01:11:32.119 --> 01:11:36.840 Age, but has since been lost and has since been buried by their own 665 01:11:38.199 --> 01:11:42.840 Islamic fundamentalists, just like the Christian fundamentalists and in the Dark Ages buried reason 666 01:11:43.760 --> 01:11:48.800 for Christianity's sake. The Muslim fundamentalists the buried reason for Islamic for the for 667 01:11:48.840 --> 01:11:55.199 the Muslim's sake for the last what seven hundred years. It's going to take 668 01:11:55.199 --> 01:11:59.640 a lot more than a few marines to establish democracy in a country like you. 669 01:11:59.720 --> 01:12:03.439 Walk with all the best you know, the best wishes and best efforts 670 01:12:03.720 --> 01:12:08.920 that we can have. You need to change the underlying ideology, the underlying 671 01:12:09.000 --> 01:12:12.920 philosophy of that entire region. They have to accept, as I said in 672 01:12:12.960 --> 01:12:17.000 my talk, Western values of reason and individual rights in order to find to 673 01:12:17.159 --> 01:12:23.079 found a you know, truly free countries. And note that even in the 674 01:12:23.119 --> 01:12:27.279 West today we don't respect reason in individual rights, So how do we expect 675 01:12:27.319 --> 01:12:32.520 anybody else to have any respect for them? So it's going to be a 676 01:12:32.560 --> 01:12:38.199 long time, is the quick answer. Some reports have with that Arafat is 677 01:12:38.239 --> 01:12:42.000 one of the world's two or three hundred riches men with a fortunate in the 678 01:12:42.039 --> 01:12:45.319 billions pilfered from the coffers of both the European Union and America. How do 679 01:12:45.359 --> 01:12:53.079 you believe we should go about this whole issue of Arafat and the money that 680 01:12:53.119 --> 01:12:57.279 he's taken for his own gain. That's a good question, because I was 681 01:12:57.319 --> 01:13:00.039 I was quite I didn't know the details of this, but I just I 682 01:13:00.039 --> 01:13:04.880 think it was three or four weeks ago Forbes magazine ran the four hundred Richest 683 01:13:04.920 --> 01:13:09.000 People, and they had a little box about Yester Effort, and according to 684 01:13:09.079 --> 01:13:14.399 Forbes, they estimate his wealth at a minimum, I think it was three 685 01:13:14.479 --> 01:13:19.119 hundred million dollars. How do you get three hundred million dollars as the head 686 01:13:19.119 --> 01:13:24.319 of their Palestinian authority. If you're not either getting paid for killing people by 687 01:13:24.319 --> 01:13:27.520 somebody, or you're not stealing it off of the money that's supposed to go 688 01:13:27.600 --> 01:13:30.399 to your people, there's no other way to do it. He hasn't produced 689 01:13:30.399 --> 01:13:35.000 anything. There's no Palestinian Microsoft that Yester Elfit is the head of and therefore 690 01:13:35.439 --> 01:13:39.600 made a lot of money. He hasn't created any wealth. He has not 691 01:13:39.720 --> 01:13:44.239 been productive in that sense. So he's stealing it and has been stealing it 692 01:13:44.359 --> 01:13:47.960 or getting paid again for the terrorism that he's engaged in for the last what 693 01:13:48.119 --> 01:13:53.319 is it, almost forty years now? So what should we do with Yester 694 01:13:53.399 --> 01:13:56.920 Effort? Well, I think we should do with what with Yes of Effort 695 01:13:56.960 --> 01:14:00.840 was the Israelis have wanted to do to yes Offort for last forty years. 696 01:14:00.520 --> 01:14:04.039 I think it is a mistake to talk about kicking him out of the West 697 01:14:04.039 --> 01:14:09.000 Bank and sending him to some Arab country. He's been in another Arab country 698 01:14:09.039 --> 01:14:13.319 in Tunisia for many, many years and created havoc from there. The only 699 01:14:13.399 --> 01:14:15.159 thing that can be done with Yes to offer, the only just thing, 700 01:14:15.840 --> 01:14:19.840 the thing that justice requires, is to arrest him, try him, and 701 01:14:20.039 --> 01:14:27.640 hang him publicly for the world to see what is done with terrorists. So 702 01:14:27.960 --> 01:14:32.800 nobody should ever mistake what the West will do when it catches terrorists. I 703 01:14:32.840 --> 01:14:36.680 mean, there's no difference here between what the Israelis did to Eichmann in nineteen 704 01:14:36.760 --> 01:14:41.079 sixty and what they should do with Yesser. Effort is exactly the same, 705 01:14:41.319 --> 01:14:44.880 and they should make a public trial out of it to show all of his 706 01:14:45.039 --> 01:14:49.359 crimes and why this is the only just thing that should be done. I 707 01:14:49.399 --> 01:14:55.039 remember reading shortly after the Sixth Day War somebody had written, when in the 708 01:14:55.079 --> 01:15:00.239 history of the world have the losers dictated the prospects for peace except for this 709 01:15:00.279 --> 01:15:02.680 particular situation. I thought it was very well put. The other thing I'd 710 01:15:02.720 --> 01:15:06.920 like to say is I was visiting FORENZONICI boots when they had a terrorist infiltration, 711 01:15:08.840 --> 01:15:13.439 and I understand what that fear is like. It's the most incredible thing 712 01:15:13.479 --> 01:15:15.119 that I've ever experienced, and I don't really wish to ever do it again. 713 01:15:15.199 --> 01:15:17.760 But if these people have to live with us on a daily basis, 714 01:15:18.359 --> 01:15:23.119 my hearts go out to them. My question, though, is why is 715 01:15:23.199 --> 01:15:27.680 Jordan not considered a Palestinian state? I've never really understood that as I would 716 01:15:27.760 --> 01:15:31.720 like to. So why is Jordan not considered Palestinian state? Before I say 717 01:15:31.800 --> 01:15:34.680 that, let me just say I agree with you completely. Having lived in 718 01:15:34.720 --> 01:15:39.680 Israel or most of my early life, I know what it's like to go 719 01:15:39.760 --> 01:15:44.119 through when terrorists infiltrate and so on. And that's the reason why they have 720 01:15:44.199 --> 01:15:47.279 the checkpoints in the West Bank. It's why it's the reason why people are 721 01:15:47.319 --> 01:15:51.199 dying at the checkpoints, because Israel has to protect itself. He's gone. 722 01:15:53.680 --> 01:15:59.479 As with regard to Jordan, look, Jordan's should be a free country, 723 01:16:00.119 --> 01:16:02.479 be ruled by king or any other deaths spot. And the fact is that 724 01:16:02.600 --> 01:16:08.039 ethnically most of the population, well over fifty percent of the population of Jordan 725 01:16:08.359 --> 01:16:14.760 is Palestinian, and I think Jordan should be open to accepting more people who 726 01:16:14.760 --> 01:16:17.560 would want to move there, and if it was free, it would in 727 01:16:17.640 --> 01:16:23.560 a sense become the Palestinian state. The only reason Jordan is not a Palestinian 728 01:16:23.600 --> 01:16:27.800 state is because a long long time ago, the British promised it to the 729 01:16:27.840 --> 01:16:31.159 Faisal family. Because they made a mistake during World War One, they promised 730 01:16:31.199 --> 01:16:35.720 Saudi Arabia tore two different families to the Saud family which rules it today, 731 01:16:35.720 --> 01:16:39.920 and to the Faisal family, and as a consequence, they had to give 732 01:16:40.159 --> 01:16:43.520 these guys something else, and they gave them, you know, just a 733 01:16:43.520 --> 01:16:45.840 little history that they gave them Jordan, king of Dullah, and then they 734 01:16:45.840 --> 01:16:49.960 gave them Syria. And the Syrians didn't like the Saudi Arabian coming to rule 735 01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:51.960 over them and they kind of kicked him out. So you know what they 736 01:16:53.000 --> 01:16:56.840 did with him, They made him king of Iraq and he was king of 737 01:16:56.920 --> 01:17:01.399 Iraq until the early nineteen fifties. So you know, the only reason Jordan 738 01:17:01.600 --> 01:17:09.399 is a Hashemite empire and not a and not a you know, a Palestinian 739 01:17:09.479 --> 01:17:12.960 state is because the British gave it to the Ashamans, gave it to a 740 01:17:13.000 --> 01:17:16.359 particular tribe in Saudi Arabia, which actually who actually ruled over Mecca and Medina, 741 01:17:16.439 --> 01:17:20.560 the Holy Cities of Saudi Arabia when you know when the Sawods kicked them 742 01:17:20.560 --> 01:17:25.479 out. So it's history. You know, there's no reason it should be 743 01:17:25.479 --> 01:17:30.439 a Palestinian state. Oh no, because nobody, nobody talks about history. 744 01:17:30.920 --> 01:17:33.760 We don't know history. We ignore history. History is unimportant. The only 745 01:17:33.800 --> 01:17:38.760 thing that we care about is you know is how do we get by tomorrow? 746 01:17:38.760 --> 01:17:42.720 How do we survive tomorrow? How do we cut the next shortcut that 747 01:17:42.760 --> 01:17:48.000 we can tomorrow? And you know, our school system lacks history education or 748 01:17:48.079 --> 01:17:54.319 universities don't really teach history. You know, the Middle East isn't bad shade, 749 01:17:54.319 --> 01:18:00.199 but so is this country. I wanted to ask you fundamental question. 750 01:18:00.279 --> 01:18:05.159 You talked about collectivism and individual rights, and yet it seems to me that 751 01:18:05.239 --> 01:18:11.439 in the Iraq War, we saw twenty twenty year old American soldiers dying, 752 01:18:11.600 --> 01:18:15.720 and I think in some cases they said for something greater than themselves. This 753 01:18:15.800 --> 01:18:19.600 has certainly been the history of the Israeli state since nineteen forty eight, and 754 01:18:19.680 --> 01:18:25.840 before that, young men and older men and women have died for something greater 755 01:18:25.920 --> 01:18:30.039 than themselves. And on the other hand, you have laz fair capitalism, 756 01:18:30.119 --> 01:18:34.720 you have the Carlisle Group, which regularly trades with Saudi Arabia, source of 757 01:18:35.159 --> 01:18:40.640 terrorism throughout the world. You have the recent yo see Guinness ur stick scandal 758 01:18:40.800 --> 01:18:46.119 in Israel, and I'm wondering how you can justify and I do love your 759 01:18:46.119 --> 01:18:51.520 defense of Israel, but how you justify the lase fair individual capitalism given the 760 01:18:51.520 --> 01:18:59.079 fact it seems to me that it is a collective identification with either America or 761 01:18:59.199 --> 01:19:03.239 in my case, so I consider myself a religious jew the identification with the 762 01:19:03.319 --> 01:19:08.800 Jewish people that gave rise to Israel. And it seems to me that there 763 01:19:08.880 --> 01:19:16.960 is an element of validity to a collectivist view. Okay, why the soldiers 764 01:19:16.960 --> 01:19:23.600 going to battle? And why is it from a purely individualistic, selfish, 765 01:19:24.119 --> 01:19:29.239 egoistic perspective that they are willing to risk their lives for their country? Why 766 01:19:29.359 --> 01:19:32.319 is there? Well, first of all, they don't always do it for 767 01:19:32.359 --> 01:19:36.399 the right reason. Many people go to battle for the wrong reason, and 768 01:19:36.439 --> 01:19:41.319 they do it for collectivistic reasons, which I think they are the wrong reasons, 769 01:19:42.119 --> 01:19:45.359 and they do it, and you know, and in many places in 770 01:19:45.439 --> 01:19:47.640 America and in the United States, many of the soldiers indeed do it for 771 01:19:47.760 --> 01:19:51.479 collectivism, and I think that's wrong. How could I justify it from an 772 01:19:51.479 --> 01:19:57.880 egoistic perspective? I like the Marine I like you know, I watched before 773 01:19:57.880 --> 01:20:01.479 the Iraq War as the Marines will be interview and when they were asked, 774 01:20:01.479 --> 01:20:05.760 why are you fighting? Anybody? Remember what they said? They said, 775 01:20:05.800 --> 01:20:11.159 I'm fighting for my kids, I'm fighting for my wife, I'm fighting for 776 01:20:11.199 --> 01:20:15.359 my family. I'm fighting so for my kids won't have to live in a 777 01:20:15.439 --> 01:20:18.720 world where Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction. Not to me, that 778 01:20:18.840 --> 01:20:24.800 is egoism. They are fighting for the values the people in this case, 779 01:20:24.880 --> 01:20:30.239 the values that they view as the most important values in their lives, their 780 01:20:30.319 --> 01:20:33.800 kids, their wives, their close family. And I think if you took 781 01:20:33.800 --> 01:20:39.600 it to more abstract level, if these were slightly more intellectual soldiers, as 782 01:20:39.640 --> 01:20:42.920 I wish they were and hope one day they will be, they would say 783 01:20:43.359 --> 01:20:46.800 I'm fighting because in a world that has weapons of mass destruction in the hands 784 01:20:46.840 --> 01:20:49.560 of despot, that is a world I do not want to live in. 785 01:20:49.880 --> 01:20:55.039 That is a world that I can't go into mall without thinking whether it'd be 786 01:20:55.079 --> 01:20:58.039 blown up or knock. That is a world in which my life is not 787 01:20:58.199 --> 01:21:00.600 worth anything. That is a world in which my freedom is not worth anything. 788 01:21:00.960 --> 01:21:06.359 I am fighting for my life. I am fighting to be able to 789 01:21:06.479 --> 01:21:11.279 be free. I am fighting for my values, for the right to life, 790 01:21:11.319 --> 01:21:15.840 liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not everybody's right to the life liberty 791 01:21:15.920 --> 01:21:19.439 mine, but of course mind involves everybody's. If I'm gonna fight for mine, 792 01:21:19.439 --> 01:21:23.880 I'm gonna fight for everybody's because it would be meaningful just to fight for 793 01:21:24.039 --> 01:21:28.119 mine. So I think there are plenty of rational soldiers out there who may 794 01:21:28.119 --> 01:21:32.000 be can't articulated, but who are completely igoists or who are in i UQ 795 01:21:32.239 --> 01:21:39.000 because they understand that Iraq poses a threat to them, to them and the 796 01:21:39.000 --> 01:21:43.880 things that they hold dear, including these abstract values that maybe they can't put 797 01:21:43.880 --> 01:21:47.680 words to, but you know, neither can I intellectuals. But that's what's 798 01:21:47.760 --> 01:21:51.479 behind what they say. They are fighting for the American way, you know, 799 01:21:51.520 --> 01:21:56.199 for the that's what they mean. They're fighting for freedom. And you 800 01:21:56.239 --> 01:22:00.840 could say, look, I would rather commit suicide in a sense then live 801 01:22:01.079 --> 01:22:06.000 under a Nazi dictatorship. That is the selfish thing to do. Well. 802 01:22:06.039 --> 01:22:12.319 I would certainly fight against a Nazi dictatorship and risk my life then live under 803 01:22:12.319 --> 01:22:15.800 it. And for that matter, I would be willing to fight and risk 804 01:22:15.880 --> 01:22:21.039 my life daily to prevent militant Muslims who would blow themselves up in a second, 805 01:22:21.039 --> 01:22:26.840 from possessing nuclear weapons or chemical weapons or other types of weapons. So 806 01:22:27.079 --> 01:22:30.920 when there's a real threat today values, it's completely egoistic to fight for them. 807 01:22:31.000 --> 01:22:34.680 Collectivism, on the other hand, is what leads Nazis to fight for 808 01:22:34.760 --> 01:22:41.359 Nazism, It's what leads Arians to fight for the arent nation. It's what 809 01:22:41.640 --> 01:22:45.079 leads you know, Christians to go on a crusade, and it's what leads 810 01:22:45.199 --> 01:22:50.680 Osama bin Laden to go on a Muslim crusade against the West. It is 811 01:22:50.720 --> 01:22:55.840 those feelings of doing it for the you know, some greater good other than 812 01:22:55.880 --> 01:22:59.880 oneself that can only That's the only way you could explain the kind of suicide 813 01:23:00.079 --> 01:23:06.920 missions that Muslim fundamentalists are involved in. Collectivism as the principle defining the reason 814 01:23:08.000 --> 01:23:13.399 one fights has always led to complete an utter disaster. And I believe that 815 01:23:13.439 --> 01:23:18.119 even in Israel, to the extent that they fight for purely collectivistic reasons, 816 01:23:19.119 --> 01:23:25.720 that weakens them and ultimately will lead to their destruction. And the more they 817 01:23:25.760 --> 01:23:31.159 move towards an individualistic society where the Israeli soldier can't say proudly that he is 818 01:23:31.239 --> 01:23:36.239 fighting for his values, for freedom, for individual rights, for capitalism, 819 01:23:36.920 --> 01:23:43.319 the better the soldier will be and the healthy Israeli society will be, and 820 01:23:43.359 --> 01:23:51.520 the longer it will survive. At Community College of Philadelphia, and last week 821 01:23:51.560 --> 01:24:00.760 we had a guest lecturer from Penn professor Ian Lustik, who informed an audience 822 01:24:00.880 --> 01:24:06.560 that the United States Congress is controlled by the Israel lobby, compared Israel to 823 01:24:06.880 --> 01:24:15.840 a drug addict, and it kind of went downhill from there. Some enraged 824 01:24:15.880 --> 01:24:21.239 students started talking about their claims that there never was a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, 825 01:24:21.720 --> 01:24:28.039 and it became more interesting after that. What I'm interested in is the 826 01:24:28.520 --> 01:24:33.279 kind of the general political tone being set from the White House since at least 827 01:24:33.359 --> 01:24:40.439 June twenty fourth of last year, when the President has started using words like 828 01:24:40.520 --> 01:24:47.119 occupation and settlement on a consistent basis. One never hears about the Polish occupation 829 01:24:47.319 --> 01:24:55.640 of Silesia and Pomerania and East Prussia, or about settlements, and it seems 830 01:24:55.640 --> 01:25:00.079 that that kind of rhetoric has the effect of delegitimizing the state of Israel as 831 01:25:00.119 --> 01:25:05.319 a whole. Now, when I discuss this with my conservative Jewish friends, 832 01:25:05.359 --> 01:25:11.239 they say, they they wink, and they say, don't worry, he's 833 01:25:11.359 --> 01:25:15.880 just saying that. But he actually the White House has so many conditions on 834 01:25:16.560 --> 01:25:21.880 the Palestinian state that they'll never be able to achieve it. And it's not 835 01:25:23.079 --> 01:25:28.039 a realistic concern. But yet one hears about the timetable. By two thousand 836 01:25:28.039 --> 01:25:30.319 and five, there will be a state, come hell or high water. 837 01:25:30.479 --> 01:25:35.319 So are these people right? Is this is the White House being too clever? 838 01:25:36.239 --> 01:25:39.319 Well, let me put it this way. Even if the White House 839 01:25:39.479 --> 01:25:45.319 is being clever here than making a faithful mistake, a mistake which we will 840 01:25:45.359 --> 01:25:49.720 be the consequences. As I said in my talk, whenever they appease tourism, 841 01:25:49.720 --> 01:25:54.479 whenever they appease the tourists, even in woods, not in actions, 842 01:25:54.800 --> 01:25:58.920 they are emboldening the tourists. Every day that George Bush goes out there talking 843 01:25:58.920 --> 01:26:04.319 about the road map, some junior bin Laden is gaining strength. Some young 844 01:26:04.439 --> 01:26:09.439 terrorists are saying, Wow, if only we can survive long enough, if 845 01:26:09.439 --> 01:26:13.000 only we can make our claim strong enough, if only we can kill enough 846 01:26:13.039 --> 01:26:15.039 people, they will ultimately listen to us, and they will give us. 847 01:26:15.760 --> 01:26:19.439 They will give us something. But let me say that I don't believe it's 848 01:26:19.479 --> 01:26:25.279 just a game. I believe that this administration really wants to solve They want 849 01:26:25.279 --> 01:26:28.479 a Palestinian state, They want to solve this problem. And I think this 850 01:26:28.600 --> 01:26:33.560 is administration is a bizarre combination of some very good stuff and some very very 851 01:26:33.600 --> 01:26:38.560 bad stuff. You know, they've done some good stuff since September eleventh, 852 01:26:38.600 --> 01:26:42.439 and they've done some awful stuff since September eleventh. They've they've gone to war, 853 01:26:42.600 --> 01:26:45.000 which you know, I think is a good thing, and then they've 854 01:26:45.000 --> 01:26:48.880 executed a war which in a way which I think sends the wrong messages to 855 01:26:49.279 --> 01:26:56.640 the world. You know, everything they do is is is this mixed bag 856 01:26:56.720 --> 01:27:01.039 of contradictions, and I think as a consequence, they're not really winning the 857 01:27:01.079 --> 01:27:04.920 war. I think it's this contradiction that prevents them from winning it. For 858 01:27:04.960 --> 01:27:12.000 example, this administration fears, in my view, naming the enemy in the 859 01:27:12.000 --> 01:27:14.439 war on terrorism, which isn't terrorism. I mean, that's a joke. 860 01:27:14.960 --> 01:27:17.720 There are lots of terrorists around the world that we're not at war worth with 861 01:27:18.000 --> 01:27:21.279 war worth one group of terrorism. And indeed, it's not even a war 862 01:27:21.319 --> 01:27:26.640 against terrorism. It's a word against an ideology that is using terrorism right now 863 01:27:26.640 --> 01:27:30.800 as a tactic. Might use other techniques in the future, like all out 864 01:27:30.800 --> 01:27:34.640 war, just plain old war, the wars against militanty slamp. That is 865 01:27:34.680 --> 01:27:40.319 the ideology that is attacking us, that is the ideology that preaches our destruction, 866 01:27:40.840 --> 01:27:45.119 and that is an ideology that sends these terrorists out to suicide. Mission. 867 01:27:45.239 --> 01:27:47.840 Why won't they say it? Why won't they say it? How can 868 01:27:47.880 --> 01:27:51.359 you fight a war when you're afraid to name the enemy? Imagine fighting World 869 01:27:51.399 --> 01:27:58.560 War two without saying we want to destroy Nazism. Instead of that, we're 870 01:27:58.560 --> 01:28:00.239 saying, we just want to capture Hitler and a few of his leaders, 871 01:28:00.239 --> 01:28:04.239 will kill them. But uh, and we don't hate the German people. 872 01:28:04.279 --> 01:28:09.159 We like the German people. They're okay. And indeed, moderate forms of 873 01:28:09.279 --> 01:28:13.920 Nazism are okay. It's just the extreme form that you know, we don't 874 01:28:14.039 --> 01:28:15.960 like. But we're not war with even that, we're not in war with 875 01:28:16.039 --> 01:28:21.880 it. That's the equivalent, you know, project that on Japanese imperialism on 876 01:28:21.960 --> 01:28:27.239 any form. You cannot fight a war like that, And indeed, I 877 01:28:27.239 --> 01:28:31.000 think I think we're not. I think our war in Afghanistan was a pathetic 878 01:28:31.239 --> 01:28:35.039 example of a war, and indeed, I think we did not achieve any 879 01:28:35.279 --> 01:28:39.800 of our real targets other than doing a work with the Taliban regime. You 880 01:28:39.840 --> 01:28:43.600 know, we didn't get the major terrorists out of that war. And I 881 01:28:43.640 --> 01:28:45.159 think even the war in you Walk is going to come back to haunt us 882 01:28:45.319 --> 01:28:49.600 because we did, because we fought what I consider compassionate war. And I 883 01:28:49.600 --> 01:28:55.840 think it's a mall abomination. Going back to the ambulance question, it is 884 01:28:55.880 --> 01:29:02.960 a mall abomination for one marine to die because we would not kill civilians, 885 01:29:05.159 --> 01:29:11.039 one American to shed blood because we didn't let the helicopters fire for far enough 886 01:29:11.039 --> 01:29:14.520 because we weren't sure if it was a civilian target or not. One marine 887 01:29:14.560 --> 01:29:17.199 to die because we wouldn't shoot at a mosque. Do you know what they 888 01:29:17.199 --> 01:29:23.159 did last week at a mosque? The three Sheite spiritual leaders, well one 889 01:29:23.199 --> 01:29:27.439 of them slaughtered that other two. They were butchered in a mosque, not 890 01:29:27.520 --> 01:29:30.960 just in a mosque, in the holiest mosque to the Sheite religion. There 891 01:29:31.000 --> 01:29:34.319 was blood shed on the floor. And we won't shoot at a mosque and 892 01:29:34.359 --> 01:29:41.600 a marine dies, And that to me is a mal atrocity of this administration. 893 01:29:42.600 --> 01:29:45.920 For what what are we doing this for? To make that out of 894 01:29:45.039 --> 01:29:48.600 street love us. You think they're gonna love us because because we only killed 895 01:29:48.600 --> 01:29:56.159 a thousand civilians and not two thousand civilians. Of course not, if anything, 896 01:29:56.199 --> 01:29:58.880 they lose respect for us because we don't fight a war the way it 897 01:29:58.920 --> 01:30:00.479 wars are supposed to be. F There's no such thing by the way, 898 01:30:00.840 --> 01:30:06.760 as MSNBC and c spent all these not c spent as MSNBC and CNN and 899 01:30:06.880 --> 01:30:14.760 Fox saying there's no such thing as the rules of law of war. War 900 01:30:15.359 --> 01:30:18.119 is the negation of rules. It is the it is there. There is 901 01:30:18.199 --> 01:30:24.199 the reversion to pure brutality. There's no such thing as acting nice in a 902 01:30:24.239 --> 01:30:28.880 war. That's a complete denial of what was about. Was about killing people. 903 01:30:28.880 --> 01:30:32.439 There's no way to kill them nicely. There's no way to execute a 904 01:30:32.439 --> 01:30:39.119 war with compassion. And when you do, you send again the wrong message 905 01:30:39.319 --> 01:30:43.399 to the rest of the war. You send the message your moral weakness and 906 01:30:43.439 --> 01:30:46.199 cowardice. And I think that we are going to suffer the consequences of sending 907 01:30:46.199 --> 01:30:51.319 such messages into the decades to come. And man in the back has been 908 01:30:51.439 --> 01:31:08.600 patiently waiting to ask a question for a long term thank you without arguing much 909 01:31:08.800 --> 01:31:12.920 of your presentation, because I firmly believe in a strong world case for Israel, 910 01:31:12.920 --> 01:31:15.720 and you made much of it. And perhaps I did miss this at 911 01:31:15.760 --> 01:31:18.479 the beginning because unfortunately I was late, But could you comment about the following. 912 01:31:19.600 --> 01:31:26.640 The fact is that whatever we feel about a Palestinian state, many in 913 01:31:26.840 --> 01:31:34.000 Israel, many Israelis find great difficulty in fulfilling their humanity, their rights there 914 01:31:34.199 --> 01:31:44.560 and ran principles of self respect and what they're about in ruling over a million 915 01:31:44.640 --> 01:31:48.039 people who don't want to be ruled over by then now, I certainly agree 916 01:31:48.039 --> 01:31:51.800 with you. I'm sure I don't know the depth of the history. But 917 01:31:53.680 --> 01:31:57.119 Jordan didn't want them either, I know that, and he still try to 918 01:31:57.159 --> 01:32:00.319 give them to Jordan. But the fact is that why is Israel willing to 919 01:32:01.039 --> 01:32:04.000 negotiate, to talk, to try to make some kind of compromise, is 920 01:32:04.039 --> 01:32:10.920 because they don't want to rule over these people. I would also just like 921 01:32:11.000 --> 01:32:16.079 to comment because I recall very well. I believe I was in Israel at 922 01:32:16.119 --> 01:32:23.159 the time of that killing of the terrorist leader, which certainly was an admirable 923 01:32:23.319 --> 01:32:28.880 end and one which I would, under circumstances have to support. But at 924 01:32:28.920 --> 01:32:33.039 the same time, it was more than just collateral damage that fourteen civilians were 925 01:32:33.119 --> 01:32:38.279 killed. It was obviously known that civilians were going to be killed because of 926 01:32:38.319 --> 01:32:42.039 where he was and the amount of ammunition that was dropped on him. And 927 01:32:42.079 --> 01:32:45.439 I think that was the criticism, not killing this man, but when there 928 01:32:45.439 --> 01:32:49.399 perhaps were other opportunities other ways, or maybe that opportunity should have been missed. 929 01:32:49.560 --> 01:32:53.159 But anyway, I'd like to get back to that as part of that 930 01:32:53.199 --> 01:32:59.359 whole context, namely, the individual within Israel that wants to retain, whether 931 01:33:00.159 --> 01:33:02.119 you know this lecture is part of that or not, once retained, the 932 01:33:02.359 --> 01:33:08.079 jewishness of the Jewish state and their sense of also being a free, Western 933 01:33:08.119 --> 01:33:11.640 thinking individual who doesn't want to rule where people do not want to be ruled 934 01:33:11.640 --> 01:33:15.239 over by him. Let me let me start by commenting on your on your 935 01:33:15.239 --> 01:33:20.600 second comments, and then I'll get to the broad of question. If Israel 936 01:33:20.640 --> 01:33:25.039 had been able to kill Shidata, they would have done it previously. That 937 01:33:25.159 --> 01:33:27.039 is, he's been on there, on the top. He was at the 938 01:33:27.079 --> 01:33:30.560 time at the top of the target list for years and they were not successful. 939 01:33:31.279 --> 01:33:35.079 And I would argue, and I know that this sounds inhumane and and 940 01:33:35.600 --> 01:33:40.399 soul on, but I think it indeed is humane that even if a hundred 941 01:33:40.399 --> 01:33:43.800 people would have done and Israel would have known that a hundred people would have 942 01:33:43.840 --> 01:33:45.399 died, it would have been justified, or a thousand people it would have 943 01:33:45.479 --> 01:33:55.000 been justified. The fact is that that when Israel is tough, when Israel 944 01:33:55.119 --> 01:33:59.920 is strong, they don't come back it's when Israel is weak and leaves the 945 01:34:00.119 --> 01:34:02.920 territories. It's when they come back. When we held those territories, when 946 01:34:03.039 --> 01:34:10.199 we were tough with them, they did not attack Israel. They they are 947 01:34:10.279 --> 01:34:15.119 emboldened by Israel's weakness, just like Issambi in London is emboldened by America's weakness. 948 01:34:15.319 --> 01:34:19.359 And when Israel apologized for killing the fourteen civilians, it again emboldened them 949 01:34:19.439 --> 01:34:25.199 because now they know that if they surround themselves with women and children, if 950 01:34:25.239 --> 01:34:29.640 they drive everywhere with women and children, if they only walk around in crowds, 951 01:34:29.720 --> 01:34:32.479 Israel won't do anything to them. And indeed, Saddam saying, I 952 01:34:32.479 --> 01:34:38.800 think has escaped because he learned that lesson, and Assambi London certainly escaped Affghanistan 953 01:34:38.880 --> 01:34:42.319 because he learned that lesson because he, according to the New York Times, 954 01:34:42.319 --> 01:34:45.640 at least on several occasions, they knew where he was and he was surrounded 955 01:34:45.640 --> 01:34:49.039 by women and children, and therefore they didn't attack him. So you get 956 01:34:49.079 --> 01:34:53.600 the perpecty. You know, evil what perpetuate itself because it has no problem 957 01:34:53.760 --> 01:34:57.960 using women and children to its own devices. But you know, think back 958 01:34:58.039 --> 01:35:01.640 on just to finish this point of civilian casualties. Think back on what the 959 01:35:01.760 --> 01:35:08.279 United States did in World War Two in order to win that war. Before 960 01:35:08.479 --> 01:35:13.359 Nagasaki in Hiroshima, even before the atomic bombs that killed one hundred thousand civilians, 961 01:35:13.880 --> 01:35:17.920 even you know, months months before that, the United States bombed Tokyo 962 01:35:18.000 --> 01:35:24.279 and every other major city in Japan, killing tens of thousands of civilians, 963 01:35:24.560 --> 01:35:27.600 because they thought it would shorten the war. They didn't do it. It 964 01:35:27.640 --> 01:35:30.680 wasn't collateral damage. Oops, we missed the military target. We hit a 965 01:35:30.680 --> 01:35:36.199 civilian. They killed civilians because civilians became a military target, because that would 966 01:35:36.279 --> 01:35:42.359 shorten the war and guarantee American victory. Nobody in America made a peep out 967 01:35:42.399 --> 01:35:45.880 of that. Nobody objected to that, because we lived in a time when 968 01:35:45.920 --> 01:35:49.439 we had a lot more confidence in our maral righteousness. And I don't think 969 01:35:49.439 --> 01:35:54.199 that was wrong. What we did when we flattened Dresden in Germany. I 970 01:35:54.199 --> 01:35:58.159 don't think that was wrong if it saved American lives, if it led to 971 01:35:58.199 --> 01:36:02.039 a shorter World War two. And I think the same is true in Israel. 972 01:36:02.319 --> 01:36:09.399 If Israel to kill a leader of a terrorist group has to kill civilians 973 01:36:09.399 --> 01:36:14.920 in the process, so be it their blood is on that terrorist leader's hands, 974 01:36:15.000 --> 01:36:17.720 not on Israeli's hands. Now, with regards to the broader question, 975 01:36:18.319 --> 01:36:27.239 there is no question that Israel supports compromise and appeasement and supports dealing with the 976 01:36:27.279 --> 01:36:30.000 Palestinians. I mean, you know, in that sense, they're often ahead 977 01:36:30.039 --> 01:36:35.560 of the Americans. Indeed, I believe that the biggest enemies of Israel, 978 01:36:36.600 --> 01:36:43.199 the most significant enemies of Israel, teach at the Haifa University and Television University, 979 01:36:43.279 --> 01:36:45.920 just as I believe the biggest enemies of the United States teach at pen 980 01:36:46.760 --> 01:36:53.039 and other places like this. So I think of Israeli intellectuals are its biggest 981 01:36:53.079 --> 01:36:59.000 enemies, just like American intellectuals America's biggest enemy. They have bought into the 982 01:36:59.039 --> 01:37:06.319 altruistic, collectivistic philosophies that are destroying the West, and by doing so they 983 01:37:06.359 --> 01:37:13.159 are going to commit suicide. Either commit suicide or lead to a much bigger 984 01:37:13.159 --> 01:37:16.119 war long term in the Middle East, just as I believe that the West 985 01:37:16.439 --> 01:37:23.680 is committing suicide by more and more over time accepting altruism. Altruism is the 986 01:37:23.680 --> 01:37:28.199 idea of self sacrifices them all a standard, and collectivism is the idea that 987 01:37:28.439 --> 01:37:31.399 groups matter. Not individuals, that everything should be sacrificed to the group, 988 01:37:31.840 --> 01:37:38.159 that by adopting altruism and collectivism in the West, we are abandoning our roots 989 01:37:38.479 --> 01:37:44.000 in the founding documents of this country, and as a consequence of committing suicide 990 01:37:44.079 --> 01:37:46.640 qua West. And I think Europe is a few decades ahead of the United 991 01:37:46.640 --> 01:37:51.680 States on the march towards the Abyss, but we're not that far behind them, 992 01:37:51.720 --> 01:37:56.840 and Israel is there with us as well. So let me put it 993 01:37:56.880 --> 01:38:01.720 this way. If Israel truly, if is really truly believed in ain RAN's 994 01:38:01.840 --> 01:38:08.319 values, then they wouldn't like the occupation. Nobody likes an occupation, but 995 01:38:08.359 --> 01:38:12.560 they would recognize that occupying these people, at least for a while, and 996 01:38:12.600 --> 01:38:16.439 probably a long while unfortunately, is necessary for their own survival, and therefore 997 01:38:16.479 --> 01:38:21.600 they would do it. And they would realize that the only way to change 998 01:38:21.760 --> 01:38:27.199 the Palestinians to the point where you will be able to grant them their own 999 01:38:27.239 --> 01:38:30.479 state maybe one day, or grant them full citizenship in Israel one day, 1000 01:38:31.159 --> 01:38:34.720 is by occupying them, maybe for generation, maybe for two, and re 1001 01:38:34.880 --> 01:38:41.239 educating with Western values, trashing those books that they're studying with now and replacing 1002 01:38:41.319 --> 01:38:45.039 them with real history and real values and respect for reasons, science and individual 1003 01:38:45.079 --> 01:38:51.079 rights. But as I said at the end of my speech, Israel's not 1004 01:38:51.079 --> 01:38:54.880 going to come to that conclusion. Neither we in the United States going to 1005 01:38:54.960 --> 01:38:59.920 come to that conclusion until we adopt reason, science and individual rights as I'm 1006 01:39:00.039 --> 01:39:02.880 moto as the values that we are willing to fight for, and we're not. 1007 01:39:03.079 --> 01:39:08.319 We're you know, we have a murky perception of what democracy is. 1008 01:39:08.359 --> 01:39:13.720 The way we're gonna we're gonna bring to Iraq where collective, all these collectives, 1009 01:39:13.720 --> 01:39:16.800 these ethnic groups are gonna be represented at the table. The Fani fathers 1010 01:39:16.800 --> 01:39:21.640 didn't talk about the Irish Americans and Italian Americans and the Jewish Americans being having 1011 01:39:21.680 --> 01:39:27.119 a place on the table. They talked about individual rights. If we went 1012 01:39:27.159 --> 01:39:30.479 to Iraq and preached individual rights, maybe we would have a chance. But 1013 01:39:30.640 --> 01:39:34.680 going to Iraq and talking about Chited rights and Kurdish rights and Sunni rights and 1014 01:39:34.720 --> 01:39:39.680 not even that, they're getting to the absurdity of declaring the rights of the 1015 01:39:39.800 --> 01:39:44.399 twenty second smallest minority. You know, there's Zyrians, so they're you know, 1016 01:39:44.479 --> 01:39:46.640 these tiny little groups, they all have rights because they are a group. 1017 01:39:46.960 --> 01:39:50.319 They are collective. So we in the West have abandoned those values. 1018 01:39:50.520 --> 01:39:55.039 No wonder we are weak, No wonder we are committing suicide. No wonder 1019 01:39:55.079 --> 01:40:00.640 we advocate for the Palestinians. And of course the more collectivistic, the more 1020 01:40:00.680 --> 01:40:06.199 altruistic we are, the more we commit sus up all other French. How 1021 01:40:06.239 --> 01:40:12.359 to have one French? You know? One? More questions? Go ahead, 1022 01:40:15.520 --> 01:40:21.640 questions? Oh you don't meet to pick that's right, I don't know 1023 01:40:21.680 --> 01:40:27.199 who had the handle first. Yeah, I don't know. I you know 1024 01:40:27.279 --> 01:40:30.840 the one you're next to. I guess I have no preference. Thank you 1025 01:40:30.920 --> 01:40:35.079 for coming here today and speaking here. I just had a question. You 1026 01:40:35.119 --> 01:40:39.479 answered a little bit of that in the previous question. Previous question, but 1027 01:40:39.720 --> 01:40:42.760 I'd like you to elaborate on that if you could have been I agree with 1028 01:40:42.800 --> 01:40:45.399 you that, yes, Sir Rafat is not gonna be a vehicle for peace, 1029 01:40:45.720 --> 01:40:50.159 and he does need to be removed. But from there you implied that 1030 01:40:50.399 --> 01:40:55.239 yes, Sir Raifa equals Palestinians, and on that basis tonight, the existence 1031 01:40:55.239 --> 01:41:00.560 of a the right of a Palestinian state to exist. Now, how can 1032 01:41:00.600 --> 01:41:02.800 you justify sealing the fate of a people based on the actions of the desk 1033 01:41:02.800 --> 01:41:06.439 spots controlling them. And I mean if Islama bin Laden used that kind of 1034 01:41:06.479 --> 01:41:10.319 reasoning, and he did, and we got September eleventh, you know, 1035 01:41:11.239 --> 01:41:15.319 being for But he didn't because Wassam bin Laden has no grievance against anybody. 1036 01:41:15.399 --> 01:41:17.720 He just kills for the sake of killing. He has no justification. And 1037 01:41:17.800 --> 01:41:23.760 if you could argue that eighty percent of the Palestinian people are freedom loving, 1038 01:41:23.800 --> 01:41:27.560 individual rights loving, they want to live next to Israel, they want to 1039 01:41:27.600 --> 01:41:30.640 live in peace, then I would be with you and say let's form a 1040 01:41:30.680 --> 01:41:33.479 coalition with those eighty percent, kill Alaphat and the leadership and give them one 1041 01:41:33.720 --> 01:41:39.880 absolutely. But they don't. They're not that way. Oh you can finish 1042 01:41:39.920 --> 01:41:44.199 yes, being morally superior to Islama bin Laden, how can we resort to 1043 01:41:44.439 --> 01:41:46.479 the same lodge because he does? And what do you suggest if if we 1044 01:41:46.520 --> 01:41:49.279 don't have a Palestinian state, what do you suggest we do with the Palestinians? 1045 01:41:49.560 --> 01:41:53.359 Well, as I said, I don't think we're on the same mall 1046 01:41:53.479 --> 01:41:59.039 plane as universe as Issam bin Laden. Indeed, because he is initiating force 1047 01:41:59.079 --> 01:42:02.359 and we are using four and self defense, and that puts an extreme opposite 1048 01:42:02.399 --> 01:42:10.199 in terms of the morality of what we are doing now, the question was 1049 01:42:11.319 --> 01:42:15.239 what should what do we what of the other people within the Palestinian leadership. 1050 01:42:15.319 --> 01:42:17.920 Let's let's interpret it that way to the question, and then I'll go to 1051 01:42:17.920 --> 01:42:21.439 the what should we do with the Palestinians. Look, Yas offered to spend 1052 01:42:21.439 --> 01:42:27.920 the last thirty five years killing anybody who opposed his views within the Palestinian leadership. 1053 01:42:28.039 --> 01:42:30.399 I mean he's purged him left and right, over and over again. 1054 01:42:30.880 --> 01:42:34.720 The people today who are within the Palestinian leadership, ah, yes, so 1055 01:42:34.880 --> 01:42:41.560 offered cronies. So it's not like there's somebody else to take his place. 1056 01:42:41.600 --> 01:42:46.239 And indeed, this prime Minister that they've chosen right now is a perfect example 1057 01:42:46.279 --> 01:42:49.119 of that. He's been a member of the PLO from the beginning. He's 1058 01:42:49.159 --> 01:42:53.680 been a part of it as a terrorist organization from the beginning. He has 1059 01:42:53.720 --> 01:42:59.159 supported Yes offered from the beginning, and throughout he has advocated for the for 1060 01:42:59.239 --> 01:43:06.239 the you know, for the elimination of the state of Israel. Quas say, 1061 01:43:06.439 --> 01:43:11.000 from the beginning. He pretends to be a peacemaker, as a pragmatist, 1062 01:43:11.159 --> 01:43:15.680 just like Yes off It pretends to be a peacemaker and a practical man. 1063 01:43:15.239 --> 01:43:19.720 He indeed wrote his dissertation at I can't remember the university, but he 1064 01:43:19.720 --> 01:43:27.760 wrote his dissertation on basically quoting Holocaust deniers. So you can add to that 1065 01:43:27.760 --> 01:43:30.960 that he is an anti Semite. I refer you to Jeff Jacobe wrote an 1066 01:43:31.039 --> 01:43:34.399 excellent op ed in the Boston Globe. I think it was a week or 1067 01:43:34.439 --> 01:43:38.760 two ago about who this guy really is. You know, this is just 1068 01:43:38.800 --> 01:43:42.600 another yes or offer in sheep's clothing, that's all. There's no difference. 1069 01:43:43.319 --> 01:43:46.079 And as I said, if it were true that the overwhelming majority of the 1070 01:43:46.119 --> 01:43:49.680 Palestinian people were peace loving, individual rights loving, they would have killed yes 1071 01:43:49.760 --> 01:43:54.520 or off it a long time ago and replaced him with somebody and keme to 1072 01:43:54.600 --> 01:43:58.800 Israel with a peace plan, which you know, which was based on freedom 1073 01:43:58.840 --> 01:44:02.920 and mutual existence. So what can we do with the Palestinians? Well, 1074 01:44:02.960 --> 01:44:08.279 as I said, I believe that at least for a generation, you know, 1075 01:44:08.359 --> 01:44:11.319 maybe sooner, I don't know, but at least for the near future, 1076 01:44:11.439 --> 01:44:15.600 Israel has to reoccupy the West Bank and Gaza. It needs to go 1077 01:44:15.720 --> 01:44:20.520 in there and eradicate all terrorist activity. It needs to destroy the infrastructure, 1078 01:44:20.560 --> 01:44:26.039 It needs to destroy the leaders. It needs to prison however many it takes 1079 01:44:26.760 --> 01:44:30.319 to stop the terrorism, and it needs to replace the textbooks, It needs 1080 01:44:30.359 --> 01:44:35.319 to replace the teachers if necessary. It needs to change the environment within the 1081 01:44:35.359 --> 01:44:40.600 Palestinian world, within the West Bank and Gaza, just as it did to 1082 01:44:40.600 --> 01:44:45.840 some extent and with some limited success in the nineteen seventies. But unfortunately Israel 1083 01:44:45.920 --> 01:44:50.319 made a very big mistake in the seventies, and that was that in order 1084 01:44:50.359 --> 01:45:00.640 to establish an opposition to yasu Offer and Palestinian nationalism, it's helped establish militanty 1085 01:45:00.720 --> 01:45:04.199 Slam through the Hamas movement, which is well helped fund during the nineteen seventies, 1086 01:45:04.199 --> 01:45:08.159 and of course is suffering the consequences of that to this day, just 1087 01:45:08.279 --> 01:45:13.359 like we in America funded Usama bin Laden in order to fight communism, we 1088 01:45:13.439 --> 01:45:16.640 suffer the consequence of that bad decision to this day. So what they need 1089 01:45:16.760 --> 01:45:28.000 is a secular, pro individual rights, pro freedom educational system in the Palestinian 1090 01:45:28.359 --> 01:45:31.079 territories. They need to let that function for a while and see what happens 1091 01:45:31.119 --> 01:45:38.760 and if the Palestinians politically mature to the point to which Israel is one hundred 1092 01:45:38.800 --> 01:45:43.840 percent convinced that they have no intention of annihilating Israel, that they will form 1093 01:45:44.000 --> 01:45:51.239 a truly free, representational, individual rights respecting country. Then I have no 1094 01:45:51.960 --> 01:45:58.640 objection in principle under those conditions to forming a Palestinian state. But those conditions 1095 01:45:58.680 --> 01:46:03.479 are necessary to form such a state, and until those conditions come abide, 1096 01:46:04.560 --> 01:46:12.600 any forming of such a state is an act of suicide. So I am 1097 01:46:12.640 --> 01:46:16.920 not very optimistic for two reasons. Well, for one major reason, because 1098 01:46:16.960 --> 01:46:19.920 I don't think is what we'll do it. And the reason I don't think 1099 01:46:20.000 --> 01:46:27.159 Israel will do it is because Israel is being corrupted by bad philosophy, just 1100 01:46:27.279 --> 01:46:30.439 like the rest of the West, as I noted, And it's it's in 1101 01:46:30.479 --> 01:46:35.039 a sense more corrupt because the Israelis tend to be more intellectual, and uh, 1102 01:46:36.000 --> 01:46:41.000 you know, the more corrupted becomes, the more dangerous of a place 1103 01:46:41.199 --> 01:46:44.640 it's going to be, and the more you know. But in that sense, 1104 01:46:44.640 --> 01:46:46.760 I'm pessimistic about the West in general, and I think the only hope 1105 01:46:46.880 --> 01:46:49.600 for the West and for Israel is, as I said, a return to 1106 01:46:49.680 --> 01:46:57.199 reason and individual rights. And I think the only philosophy advocating consistently for reason 1107 01:46:57.359 --> 01:47:01.880 and for individual rights is Iinman's philosophy, objectivism. So until we take over 1108 01:47:01.920 --> 01:47:05.560 the world, things are not looking good. Thank you.