The annual General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations of North America is the greatest Jewish convention on that continent. In a highly emotional address to over 4000 delegates, Prime Minister Rabin devoted the bulk of his remarks to his own feeling when he shook Arafat's hand on the While House lawn on 13 September. He also called for the formulation of a new Jewish agenda and a redefinition of Israel-Diaspora relations. Text:
Mr. Chairman, delegates of the Council of Jewish Federations, my brothers and sisters, members of the Jewish people.
While I tend to keep my feelings to myself regarding those moments in Washington, I will share an experience that took place at the time of that momentous occasion: On the day prior to my trip to Washington, I invited Semadar Haran to join me on my journey. Semadar Haran is a victim of a terrorist attack that took place several years ago in northern Israel. Terrorists broke into her home in Nahariya, abducted her husband and her infant daughter. Semadar hid in the attic of her home, with her second daughter close beside her hearing the terrorists' voices, and the gunfire. Her young daughter could not contain a muffled cry in that hiding place, just above the terrorists' gunshots, and Semadar feared that the cries would reveal them. We associate this kind of horror story with the time of our darkest hours in the Holocaust. Her daughter died in that attic hideaway. Her second daughter's infant head was smashed into a rock and crushed. Her husband was killed by the bullets.
I asked Semadar Haran if she would join me in Washington, in order to be with me for a special, and difficult moment for the Jewish people, for the State of Israel, and for Semadar herself personally. I knew that for her, what I was asking was as difficult as parting the Red Sea. She would be sitting at the ceremony just meters away from the man who had given the orders to her family's murderers.
Semadar Haran agreed to come. She arrived at Ben Gurion Airport just minutes before take-off. I had great respect and tremendous admiration for her ability to respond positively. But Semadar did not accompany us on our flight. At the last moment, her memories flooded and overwhelmed her. She wished us luck, blessed us for our decision to pursue peace with the Palestinians, said that she would pray for us, and for us to return to Israel with peace. She said that she would support us publicly in every way she knew, that she would dream peace, and scream peace -But she did not come with us. "I can't shake his hand," she added, "but you, the Prime Minister, you are my messenger, I ask you to shake his hand, on my behalf also." We parted. Our plane rose into the sky on its way to Washington. Semadar remained in Israel. From the airport, she travelled directly to the cemetery, and laid olive branches on the grave of her husband, on the grave of her first born daughter, and on the grave of her second daughter.
Dear Friends,
In my youth, I wanted to be a water engineer. Circumstances, and the needs of the Jewish people led me on the path that had me spend much of my life in dealing with the security of Israel. I was a soldier for 27 years. I commanded dozens, hundreds, thousands of soldiers. My life had held many experiences, both bitter and glorious. But as long as I live, I will never forget the rows of the bodies riddled by bullets, bodies that had once been my beloved friends, the brave fighters of the battalion near Kibbutz Kiriat Anavim in 1948. I remember the cars in flames on the road at Bab-el-Wad, whose drivers gave their lives trying to break the siege of Jerusalem. Night after night, we buried our dead from the battle for Jerusalem, and at dawn we returned to the fire, the fire that depleted our ranks further and further each day,
Dear Friends,
You know as well as I do, that the cost of the wars and violence and terror was heavy and painful for us. From before 1948 till yesterday, thousands of our sons and daughters have fallen in the field of battles against Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestinian terror organizations. Since the rise of the State of Israel, hardly a single day has passed in which parents did not say Kaddish over the graves of their children.
We did not rejoice in battle. We wanted nothing to do with war. It was forced upon us by countries and by organizations that wanted - and by some which still want - to destroy us. We ended every war the victors. We came out of every war wounded. There are no good wars, and no joyous victories.
Our wars did not end on the day of cease-fire. The scars of wars stay with us.
This evening, we have with us Tami Arad, one of the victims of the war, and next to her, her daughter Yuval, and members of her family and those of Ron, her husband, who is now in his seventh year of imprisonment in a terrorist jail cell.
Dear Friends,
Let us join his family in the prayer that he will return home soon. Over the years we developed a special and unique military force, an armed forces that is one-of-a-kind, that overtakes the enemy and destroys every obstacle in its path, but an army that has no hate in its heart. Even in the thick of battle, in the pilot's cockpit, in burning tanks, in battlefield, we dreamed of peace. One of our military musical ensembles came out with one of Israel's most beautiful and popular songs, "Shir Ha Shalom, the Song of Peace".
"Let the sun arise,
to light up the morn,"
All our lives in the Land of Israel, all our dreams, all our prayers were dominated by peace, in accordance with the biblical command, "Seek peace and pursue it."
Ladies and gentlemen,
I know that all of you, or most of you watched that ceremony on the White House lawn with mixed emotions, many of you grinding your teeth. I knew, as you knew, that the hand outstretched to me from the far side of the podium was the same hand that held the knife, that held the gun, the hand that gave the order to shoot, to kill. Of all the hands in the world, it was not the hand that I wanted or dreamed of touching.
But it was not Yitzhak Rabin on that podium, the private citizen who lives on Rav Ashi Street in Tel-Aviv, it was not the father of Dalia, and of Yuval, who both completed their army service, or the grandfather of a soldier today, Yonatan, a grandfather who does not sleep too well at night and worries like all parents and grandparents in Israel.
I would have liked to sign a peace agreement with Holland, or Luxembourg, or with New Zealand. But there was no need to. That is why, on that podium, on that world stage, I stood as the representative of a nation, as the emissary of a state that wants peace with the most bitter and odious of its foes, a state that is willing to give peace a chance. As I have said, one does not make peace with one's friends. One makes peace with one's enemy.
Dear Friends,
The world is turning upside-down before our eyes: the globes and atlases in young homes are archaeological findings. Your geography books are about to become collectors' items. The most unlikely events are unfolding before your very eyes. Ideologies that moved hundreds of millions vanished without a trace: ideas which brought about the death of millions died themselves overnight. Borders were erased, or were moved. New states came into being, others fell. Heads of state left center-stage, while new leaders arose. Almost every day in recent years is more dramatic than the one before it. The great revolution in Moscow, and in Berlin, in Kiev and in Johannesburg, in Bucharest and in Tirana, is re aching Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Beer-Sheva and Tiberias. We are undergoing the revolution of peace.
After this revolution, if and when it succeeds, we will find ourselves in another world, a world with new definitions, different concepts. Our lives will change, the economy will change, cultural life will change. The whole country will be changed.
There is one area in which there will be no change, no difference, and no innovation, in the most important area of all: the Security of Israel. We believe that the Palestinians want peace, that the Jordanians want peace, that the Syrians want peace, and the Lebanese. But we put our trust in no one - but ourselves. In any agreement, in any situation and under any condition, the security of Israelis will be in the hands of Israelis. While we yearn for peace - our security comes first. Security for Israel, for every Israeli, for every Jew, no matter where they live.
In recent days, we are witnessing a growing wave of bloody incidents in Israel and the territories by those who oppose peace: knifings and shootings inspired by the deranged teaching of Arab fanatics. Violent opposition to peace on the part of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other radical and extremist groups has not creased. These groups are ideologically opposed to the mere existence of the State of Israel, let alone to peace with it. Their methods are clear and unequivocal: the murder of Jews and Israelis. But, this wave of extremism is aimed not only at Israel, but at the entire free world. As our recent history teaches, what begins as a threat to the Jews is soon a menace to the entire world. It is but a short step between a knifing in Jerusalem and bombing the World Trade Centre in New York. All of this indicates the pattern of our position in the coming years. One hand we will outstretch in peace, the other we will keep poised on the trigger. We will live in peace and not with illusions. The danger has not passed. The hand of peace will, in time of need, pull that trigger.
There will be no change, no change whatsoever, in another matter, one that is the very heart of the Jewish people, and its very soul: Jerusalem. In whatever negotiation, we will be firm in our stand that Jerusalem is and will continue to be united and our eternal capital. From our perspective, Jerusalem of Gold, of Copper and of Light - is ours.
Dear Friends,
We are taking the first steps on a new path together. Tomorrow or the next day, you will return to your homes, to your families, your friends and your communities.
What will you say to them? What will you tell them? How can we continue to protect the spark of Jewish life, and the flame of Israel? As Israel makes the transition from war to peace, a question arises regarding its relationship with the Jewish people in the Diaspora. For many, the mobilization of support for Israel in its struggle for survival formed the key element in our relationship. There are those who ask whether now that the threat to our existence is being reduced considerably, a vacuum may be created in the place of that support. Progress towards peace has been made, and long and difficult peace negotiations still await. We should be preparing now for the day in which new issues will occupy our hearts and minds because our support for Israel and our identification with Israel is based on more than the external threats to Israel. It is for that day that is approaching that we should be thinking of a new agenda. I propose that we create this new agenda together. A new agenda for the Jewish people in the Diaspora and for the State of Israel. We are one, whether we are in Montreal, or in Jerusalem, Miami, Chicago, Ramat-Gan or Netanya. We are one people, separated only by our addresses. What will the items on this new agenda of ours be?
Israel has yet to free itself from the cycle of war, but can already envision peace at its doorstep. To this day, we have stood together, we have fought our battles together. We fought, and you also fought.
From now on, let us act not only as fighters, but as partners. Partners in the vision of peace, in building the economy, the society, culture, education, partners in the great success story that is Israel.
Tonight, I extend the invitation to each and every one of you to become an active player in that success story, to prosper in our prosperity, to flourish through the development of our industries, our vital and dynamic society.
We are a land flowing with milk, honey and micro-chips. We welcome your investments, and you are welcome to the dividends.
The prospect of peace has opened the whole world to us: from Jakarta to Qatar, from China to Tunisia. In the past year, the world's largest conglomerates have approached us, all wanting to invest in our most plentiful resource: the Jewish mind.
For Jews the world over, this is a time of great wonder and ferment. We have an ingathering of Jews to Israel such as we have not seen since the establishment of the State. We have the shining vision of peace in the Middle East at last within our grasp. These are the weights in our favour. But there is another side. A side that threatens to overshadow even our new miracles. The survival of our people, particularly in the Diaspora. Our people in the former Soviet Union, in Sarajevo, Ethiopia and Syria face external danger, and we are engaged in their rescue operations. But we face dangers as a people, even when there is no external threat, when the threat comes from within.
The demographic picture in Jewish communities across North America is one with which we are all painfully familiar. Similarly, the level of Jewish identity among our Jewish youth is cause for the deepest concern. Many of our young generation are losing their sense of their identity and the connection with their people. This is a generation that did not know the Holocaust; a generation that takes a State of Israel for granted. We might lose our young people and there is only one way to face this attrition - profound, indelible Jewish education coupled with Israel experience.
An "Israel Experience" should be part of the upbringing of every young Jew, a rite of passage. We can bring tens of thousands of our youth to Israel through the joint efforts of the Jewish communities and Israel.
By bringing Jewish youth to Israel, we achieve two essential objectives: we strengthen their Jewish identity and ties to Israel while simultaneously helping our Israeli youth to intensify their ties with the Jews of the Diaspora and their understanding of the concept of "Am Yisrael". We of course also view this as an opportunity for Diaspora Jews to see Israel as a place where they can build their own lives, to make aliyah. Every Jew, wherever he or she lives, should think of Israel as home.
I have met with many of you in Israel in the past months, and I have seen your eagerness to face the demands of our new reality in the context of a true partnership. This is the time to rewrite the covenant between Israel and world Jewry. The thrust of that covenant must be Jewish continuity and survival through the reclamation of our youth. This is our challenge as a people.
Israel and world Jewry, as one people, will meet and master the challenges. It will happen here and now, at the crossroads of peace, 45 years after the creation of the State of Israel, with the advent of a new era.
Dear Friends,
We are about to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of one of our generation's greatest visionaries and statesmen, David Ben Gurion, who 43 years ago, charted the relations between the Zionist Movement and the State of Israel. Today, 43 years later, it is time for a renewed definition of relations between the Jewish communities all over the world and Israel. Let us do it together.
Tomorrow we mark the 16th anniversary of the bold step taken by a great leader, Anwar Sadat. We are taking part in the same historic journey that began on that November day. Let us do so together.
We are also about to mark 30 years since the death of a symbol of America's greatest hopes: John Fitzerald Kennedy. I will take the liberty of paraphrasing one of his most famous statements: Don't ask what the Jewish people can do for you. Ask yourself what you can do for the Jewish people.
My brothers and sisters of the Jewish people,
Your eyes bear witness to events that can only be described as historic. To paraphrase another well-known saying, I must say to you this evening: Two thousand years of history are watching us... May we be worthy of that, of the heritage of Judaism and of our people.
Dear Friends,
My Jewish brothers and sisters.
As you return to your homes and your communities, remember this alone: We are the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, descendants of an ancient nation, children of a people that provided the moral values and culture for the entire world. A people that has known tragedy unique to history, a people that has brought about miracles. A people that has known the depths of despair and the highest spiritual upliftment. A people whose history is the history of the world itself. Children of a people that knows how to fight and how to make peace.
Go in peace, return to your homes in peace, and bring with you the ancient Jewish blessing:
"He who brings peace to the heavens, may He bring peace to us and to all of Israel."