Jerusalem World News

9/11/2009

My dear friends, leaders of the Jewish communities of North America,

The history of the Jewish people has been marked by a paradox.  We are at once both small and great.  We are few in number but luminous in achievement.  In the ancient world, the Jews were a small people living on the foothills of Asia touching the Mediterranean.  But in Alexandria some 2200 years ago, something happened. The Bible was translated into Greek, and the world has never been the same since. 

 

The Jews brought to civilization at least three big ideas: the idea of monotheism, the belief that all people have innate rights that transcend the power of kings, and a prophetic vision of universal peace.  It is impossible to fully describe the revolutionary impact of these ideas throughout history, nor am I able to describe the poetic power of the Biblical stories that overshadowed much of the literature of the ancient world.

 

As in antiquity so in modernity.  Israel is one of the world’s smallest countries.  But our success in science and technology, in agriculture, in medicine, in the arts, belies our size.  And on this continent, the Jewish community accounts for less than 2% of the population, yet its creative accomplishments in every field are legion and legendary.  In modern times, Jews everywhere have made extraordinary contributions to humanity.

 

So, smallness and greatness have accompanied our people throughout nearly 4,000 years of our history.  But our conspicuous achievements often masked our small size and the vulnerability that comes from being small.  Being prominent but small, we often could not defend ourselves against much larger foes who envied our achievements, despised the ideas we championed, and periodically sought to expel or even annihilate us outright.

 

The rebirth of Israel did not eliminate such attacks.  But it fundamentally changed our ability to repel them.  In 1948, some 600,000 Jews, their backs against the sea, fended off the assault of much larger enemies sworn to our destruction.   We were aided by many of our fellow American Jews.   You gave money, arms, and what is more important, tremendous moral support.

 

You helped absorb waves of immigrants into Israel, you spearheaded the heroic struggle to free Soviet Jewry and you have since tirelessly worked to strengthen the American-Israeli alliance which is a cornerstone of Israel’s security.   Today, you support Birthright, you support Masa you support Nefesh B’ Nefesh – these are programs that promote Aliyah and strengthen Jewish identity, thereby ensuring that our numbers do not further diminish and dwindle by the forces of assimilation.

 

Now, strengthening a Jewish identity I believe can no longer be an exclusive task of the Diaspora.  It is increasingly the responsibility of the Jewish State.  Over a decade ago, I was proud to be the first Prime Minister to allocate state funds to bolster Jewish identity outside of Israel.  And I assure you that in my second term, I intend to do even more.

   

The result of our joint effort has been a stronger Israel.  And only a strong Israel can achieve peace.  But even a strong Israel is still a small Israel.  And a small Israel demands a secure peace.  Peace in our land, the peace of Jerusalem, our eternal capital, is one of our oldest longings, it’s expressed in our Psalms, in our prayers: “Ask for the peace of Jerusalem.” This is built into our entire tradition, our yearnings, our hope.

 

Peace between Israel and our Arab neighbors would give us one first and immediate thing. It would spare our children the horrors of war.  It would spare our grandchildren the horrors of war.  If you have been through the horrors of war, and I have, you understand what a great gift that is to ourselves, to our children, to our neighbor’s children.  

 

And peace could also usher in a new era of tremendous economic progress for the benefit of everyone in the Middle East. I think people are beginning to see that - incomplete, beginning, a start, and what is happening in the West Bank - and I’ll talk about that in a minute.  We have already signed peace agreements, two of them, with Egypt and Jordan.   And we are eager to achieve peace with all our other neighbors, especially with the Palestinians.

 

I believe there is no time to waste.  We need to move towards peace with a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose.   Now I want to make this clear.  My goal is not to have endless negotiations.   My goal is not negotiations for the sake of negotiations.  My goal is to achieve a permanent peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, and soon.    

 

I cannot be more emphatic on this point. But to get to a peace agreement, we have to start negotiating the peace agreement.  And it’s high time that we stop negotiating about the negotiations. Let’s get on with it.  Let’s move.

 

This past June at Bar-Ilan University, I put forward a vision of peace that has united the vast majority of Israelis.  In this vision of two states for two peoples, a demilitarized Palestinian state would recognize the Jewish state. 

 

Now, what do I mean by the Jewish state?  It is a state in which all individuals and all minorities have equal individual rights.  Yet our national symbols, our language our culture spring from the heritage of the Jewish people.  And most importantly, any Jew from anywhere in the world has a right to immigrate to Israel and become a citizen.  I want to make it clear:  Any Jew, of any denomination, will always have a right to come home to the Jewish state.   Religious pluralism and tolerance will always guide my policy.

 

Now what does a Jewish state mean for the Palestinians?  It means that they must recognize that the fantasy of flooding Israel with refugees is gone; that they give up irredentist claims to the Negev and to the Galilee, and that they declare unequivocally that the conflict is finally over.

 

Yet, even after we achieve this peace treaty, we have to be honest and recognize that it may take years for the spirit of peace to permeate most levels of Palestinian society.  And therefore, any peace agreement we sign today must include ironclad security measures that will protect the State of Israel and stand the test of time.

 

Here comes that paradox again.  Israel is powerful but it is small.  No matter where our final borders are drawn, Israel will remain exceedingly small.   I am sure you know it’s small.  I don’t think you know how small it is, and certainly your neighbors don’t.  Today you think that there are two hundred million Jews in the world and that Israel is the size of half of Europe.  It’s not.  The United States and Canada are roughly 400 times each, the size of Israel. The Arab world is 500 times the size of Israel.   Egypt alone is roughly 40 times the size of Israel and even a small country like Jordan, our neighbor to the east, is almost four times as big.  Israel is bigger than Rhode Island.    That’s about it.  

 

Now, mind you, small countries are not necessarily insecure.  Belgium and Luxemburg are small but today they are not insecure.   Yet if their neighbors included radical regimes bent on their conquest, bent on their destruction; if they feel that terror proxies that fired thousands of missiles on their population, believe me, they too would feel insecure.  Anybody would.

 

Because of our small size and the radical and violent neighborhood in which we live, Israel faces security threats like that of no other nation.  Here are two facts from recent days alone that will drive this point home. 

 

A few days ago, the Israeli navy interdicted a ship carrying hundreds of tons of explosives and rockets shipped from Iran bound for Hezbollah via Syria.  Last week, Hamas tested a rocket with a range of nearly 40 miles. 

 

Now, for a large country, that might not be too consequential.  But for a tiny country like Israel, this means that both Hamas and Hezbollah now have the power to reach Tel Aviv. 

Israel’s security therefore requires that any territory vacated in a future peace agreement must be effectively demilitarized. 

 

An effective demilitarizion of Palestinian areas is an essential component of peace recognized by successive American presidents. And I want to assure you we’re willing to make great concessions for peace.  But there is something that I will never compromise on and it’s Israel’s security.  We have to ensure that weapons do not flow into the Palestinian areas in the West Bank, which overlooks Tel Aviv and surrounds Jerusalem. 

 

We cannot permit another Gaza or South Lebanon in the heart of the country.  What we want is a durable peace, a peace that will hold, a peace that we can defend.  I fervently hope that such a peace will be established.  I’m prepared to work for it.  I pray that it will hold, but we must be prepared to defend ourselves in case it doesn’t.  

 

The UN report on Gaza, which falsely accuses Israel of war crimes for legitimately defending itself against real war criminals, in effect seeks to deprive us of the right of self-defense.   This report must be firmly rejected. 

 

We are proud of the Israeli Defense Forces.  We are proud of our sons and daughters who are defending our country each day.   We know that our army, Israel’s army, is as moral as any army on earth.  Now in supporting the IDF and rejecting the UN report you’re sending a message to terrorists everywhere that they cannot get away with firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians. 

 

And you do something else.  You support peace.  For only an Israel that can defend itself is an Israel that can take further risks for peace.

 

I thank President Obama for resolutely opposing this twisted UN resolution.  I applaud the overwhelming vote last week in the American Congress condemning this biased report. 

 

I know there are many Canadian friends with us here today.  So I want to extend through you my thanks to the Canadian Government and Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his staunch support of Israel’s right to self-defense.

 

Last week, I watched a joint exercise of the IDF and some 1400 American soldiers.  The exercise was aimed to improve Israel’s air defenses against incoming missiles.  I salute these American soldiers, and I thank their President, their Commander in Chief, President Obama for his continued support of Israel’s security.  On behalf of the people of Israel, I send our condolences to the families of American servicewomen and servicemen who were killed in Fort Hood last week.

 

My friends, 

 

My government is working to advance peace.  We’re not just talking peace.  We’re doing things – things that have not been done for decades.   

 

We’ve removed hundreds of security points, roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank.  I personally extended the hours of operation on the Allenby Bridge and we’ve removed bureaucratic hurdles to Palestinian economic development.  You may not believe this, but there are still bureaucratic hurdles in Israel and it is a passion of mine to remove them and I’m an equal opportunity bureaucratic remover for Palestinians and Israelis alike.  We’ll continue to do this.

 

Now, these measures taken alongside the measures taken by the Palestinian Authority to improve security, have spurred an unmatched boom in the West Bank and this has made life better for ordinary Palestinians.  For the first time in years, businesses, banks, industry, is sprouting.  Restaurants, theaters, shopping malls – they’re overflowing.  Thousands and thousands of Palestinian jobs are being created.

 

I think we can do a lot more and I intend to do a lot more to improve conditions on the ground.  I believe that prosperity can help achieve peace – but only so far.  To truly resolve the outstanding issues between us, we must begin and complete peace negotiations.  

 

We should not place preconditions for holding talks.  Such obstacles to talks were never set in the 16 years of the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.   From the day my government was sworn in, that was seven months ago, I have been calling for peace negotiations to start. 

 

I said I would go anywhere, anytime, to advance peace.   And no Israeli government has been so willing to restrain settlement activities as part of an effort to re-launch peace talks.  So I say today to Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority:  let us seize the moment to reach an historic agreement.  Let us begin talks immediately.

 

I know there are many skeptics.  I’m not one of them.  I’ll tell you why.  Throughout my adult life, I didn’t share the skeptics’ view.  I believed that we could fight terror effectively.  I believed we can rescue the Palestinian economy.  I believed that we could alert the world to the danger of a nuclear Iran.  And sometimes I stood alone.  I think, always a realist, and in many ways, always an optimist.  Well, I’m a realist and an optimist today, because I believe that peace is possible.  And I believe that because I know how committed the people of Israel are to peace, and I know how committed I am to the achievement of peace.  But we need a partner.  We need a committed partner.  We need a Palestinian partner that is determined to shoulder the risks and burdens of making peace as we are.

 

And I believe that with good will and with courageous leadership on both sides, and no less important, with the continued support of the United States, peace can become a reality.  We can surprise a skeptical world. 

 

Achieving peace is a great challenge facing Israel.   At the United Nations in September, I spoke of another great challenge: preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.  The Iranian regime tyrannizes its people, sponsors and supplies terrorists, and openly pledges to wipe Israel off the map.  Now just imagine how much more dangerous this regime would be if it had atomic bombs.

 

The responsible members of the international community must unite to prevent this grave threat to the peace of the entire world.  I support President Obama’s continued efforts toward these ends, and I appreciate the firm position taken by the leading European governments.   We must not succumb to the Iranian regime’s cunning and to its deceit.  We must stand together to stop Tehran from realizing its nuclear ambitions.

 

In addition to achieving peace and to prevent a nuclear Iran, there is a third momentous challenge before us – reducing the world’s dependence on oil.  This would help cleanse our world after more than a century of industrial pollution.  It would help our economies by decreasing our dependence on depleting resources.  We have growing demand – depleting supply.  This would cripple many economies, especially in Asia and Africa. It would send poverty through the roof.  So there’s an economic and social, as well as an environmental logic to finding alternatives to oil.  And of course such a shift would end the massive transfer of wealth to some of the world’s most odious exporters of terrorism and fanaticism.

 

So, here’s the question: can we dramatically reduce our dependence on oil?

 

Remember that sometimes, one or two inventions can change centuries of habit.   For many centuries, salt was highly valued for preserving food.  Caravans of camels crossed the desert bearing it, and it was nearly worth its weight in gold.   The salt trade helped build economic empires, and the world’s dependence on salt showed no signs of slackening.

 

But then came two inventions: canning and refrigeration.  And virtually overnight, salt lost its immense value.  The same thing may happen to oil.   Scientific and technological breakthroughs could dramatically reduce the world’s dependence on petroleum.  And Israel could play an important role in making that happen.

 

You know, of course, about our high-tech companies, our venture capital funds, our engineers and scientists, our patents, our Nobel laureates in biotech and agro-tech, in solar energy and desalination, and in so many other fields.   Israeli innovation is transforming the way we live.  

 

Two perceptive writers called us, “The Start-Up Nation”.  We are the start-up nation.  Now we must use our minds to help achieve breakthroughs in the fields of clean energy.  I’ll give you one example:   Israel could apply its unique expertise to the juncture of water and energy.   The global need for water is rapidly increasing.  Yet, a third of the cost of producing clean water is energy.  Now sea-water is abundant.  There’s an endless supply of it.  And it can be readily desalinated in many areas with solar power and then channeled inland.

 

Israel has mastered both of these technologies, desalinization and solar energy and it can make a decisive contribution to alleviating water shortages around the world, especially in the growing economies of Asia and the parched expanses of the Middle East.

 

I am in the process of establishing a national commission that will bring together Israel’s finest scientists, businessmen and engineers.  We hope to work with other governments, with experts around the world.  Our plan is to dramatically reduce our dependence on oil in the next decade, providing an example that can be emulated by other countries throughout the world. 

 

I don’t know which technology will prevail, but I know this, if we could cross the oceans, fly the skies, and reach the moon, we surely should be able to harness water, wind and sun to power our world.

 

My friends,

 

I know that these three enormous challenges – achieving peace, preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and developing alternative energies – I know that these triple tasks seem daunting.

 

But I want you to remember another mission whose success seemed completely implausible when Theodore Herzl embarked on it over a century ago.  The challenges confronting Herzl’s vision of a Jewish state were nothing less than overwhelming.  Most of the world’s Jews lived in Europe and had no intention of moving to the barren land of their forefathers. 

 

Few saw the clouds gathering on the horizon and fewer still saw the need for action.  Though with a clear plan and an almost Biblical prophetic sense of urgency, Herzl helped the Jewish people overcome what appeared to be their innate condition of powerlessness. 

 

His implausible idea gathered so much force that within decades our people emerged from the worst massacre in history to establish an independent state in our ancestral homeland.  And then our small people set out to dedicate itself to the great task of building a modern Jewish state.

   

In an understandable moment of frustration, before all this became a reality, Herzl lamented, he said, “The tragedy of the Jewish people is that we do not believe in ourselves.”  

 

But he didn’t lose faith.  He said, “We are strong enough to form a state.  We possess all the human and material resources for this purpose.”

 

If we will it, he famously said, it is no dream.

 

My friends,

 

We have learned from history that if the Jewish people are united and determined, if we harness our hopes and our dreams, the hardest tasks are within our reach.

 

We are a small people but great people; a people generous enough to forge a lasting peace; a people brave enough to thwart the dangers that confront us; and a people creative enough to once again help steer humanity towards a better future for all.