An hour with Israel Ambassador Michael Oren

top of all the foreign relations of the united states perhaps none is as closely watched as the relationship between the us and israel i'm kenny macintyre and today and k pr present michael oren the israeli ambassador to the united states from his recent landon lecture at kansas state university oren was born in upstate new york and raised in new jersey to a conservative jewish family he had to renounce his american citizenship in order to become the israeli ambassador opposed to which he was named by prime minister benjamin netanyahu in two thousand nine warren has been called one of the top five most influential jewish leaders in america and one of the ten most influential jewish leaders worldwide he's author of numerous books and articles about middle east history warren spoke at kansas state university and january twenty nine two thousand thank you all for honoring me to be part of the landon series to be a part of a of a

lecture series has included former presidents of the united states legislators colleagues from the diplomatic community thinkers philosophers what a great privilege this is i'm here to talk about the extraordinarily future between the united states and as word began we begin with three shorter vignettes scenes from an ambassador's life if you will indulge me for a second both are seen as into place before i became an ambassador is in two thousand and eight two thousand eight was israel's sixtieth birthday i was a professor in israel in the story and film one day i get a call from the us embassy in tel aviv from the naval act as shit would i be interested in flying out to the uss truman an aircraft carrier patrolling somewhere out the eastern mediterranean and giving a lecture on the history of us as relationship so i thought about this for about a quarter of a second you kidding

with a flat or your calf pair of course like a flat ok now today i got to sum up stuart your field near ben gurion airport there and dug down to enables propeller plane rumbled to hear from an ad i see a few men in uniform from the army and have you guys ever landed on aircraft carrier could be did they tell you what we could be like if we landed on this is like a navel think the joke is strap you in but the year things are new flight two hours out is that the usda is truman was on the middle of the mediterranean between the island of rhodes in and turkey and they don't tell you that this plan is going to go from a hundred and eighty miles an hour to zero and about less than a second sealand you're here your eyeballs are somewhere out there dating is very funny i don't and i get out and and years it was extraordinary thing

there are fifty two hundred crew members of us history this is that in american city floating out know the ocean and are all standing and waiting for me in his really professor to talk to them about the history of the us his relationship why that ambassador and when i'd visit various cities in kansas city this morning one seven months ago i was in denver colorado and dumped from colorado has a at a fairly large a jewish community but state big states i was aghast that the gun the two houses of the assembly of of colorado and why was there both houses of congress a colorado task solution is for the state of israel but on a quickly in support of the state of his love for the state of israel in my presence and both of these resolutions passed unanimously no opposition there why so was later visiting cincinnati great

city cincinnati and down usually when i go to american city all tried to speak to a local dealership's all speak to latino leadership or speak the african american leadership to do was the events on sundays i try to go to church he had a very important relationship with with christians in this country more on that later and this particular sunday when two unusual church i went to an african american baptist church in a downtown part of cincinnati and waters church and you know for a person who comes from the back and the guy do you know going i say seeing with these churches would with the choir in the music it was so thrilling and this entire church in the race beat beat beat beat the reception ice i received there was simply gun it was it was it was a title of a rapturous reception and i was enveloped with love as the ambassador of israel to nine states walk what is it about the crew members on the truman or the house of assembly is in denver or this

african american church in downtown cincinnati and every sunday morning when they haven't come with me and come from a country that's tiny seven thousand miles away what's the connection here why is this relationship so special and understand it got the back ms rose found in nineteen forty and got a back way beyond that you've got to go back four hundred years to the beginning of the seventeenth century when the first book old shoe a little fire certain stoned off the coast of massachusetts and the owner of that two gentleman by the name of william bradford said come let us proclaim the word of the zion in the new promise to let the word of the wardens are now we're rather was a member of the hundred and one pilgrims could come aboard the mayflower and he had conflated massachusetts was i and masters a very nice day what you know but how the masters has become the promise land in the mind of the puritans and appearing as you

may know was a was a dissenting protestant sects in seventeenth century england they suffered terribly at the hands of the national church in an effort to find a model that enabled them to better cope with their suffering they looked into the bible quite naturally looked into the new testament didn't find the model they wanted they looked further back into the books that they called the old test and there they found something very unusual they found a god who spoke to his people in their own language god the bible speaks one language speaks hebrew band he made a promise he promised to rescue them from exile to restore them to the promise land and the puritans read the story and they loved the story they embrace the starting their strategic in the new israel the new jews england became the new egypt the atlantic ocean became the new sinai that they had across the

desert and they landed in a new promise land of america and in really impose the map the old promise land on the promised one city where the east coast you have about a thousand place names towns cities that are hebrew names ever jericho smear bethlehem's near bethany is your best sales so he remains and again he remained for the children they call them david rebecca and isaac lay out they made hebrew are required language all of their universities james madison was a hebrew major at princeton and he failed another failing to do an extra year of princeton because of his labor so deeply ingrained was the hebrew biblical narrative in the minds of the founding fathers mothers of this country that the conclusion of american revolution seventy eighty three a it was a debate among american leadership over what was going to be the great seal of the united states of america and

there were some american ears who thought it should be the american bald eagle was not a group of american visas and now the image of the united states should show most is leading the children of israel out of the promised land at a bondage into the promised land and it was a very tense debate about this over the seal and america came this close to having moses' as its natural simple moses' lost out the last to be to the fall of the challenger but you're sure that the that the designers of the moses sealed when none other than thomas jefferson benjamin franklin that's how deeply they had internalized the biblical hebrew narrative but for many of the puritans and their descendants the fact that they were the new jews with that they had kindred relationship kinship with the old jews and the fact that they were now the heiress to a new promise land and that they had a

strong connection with the real promise land known the bible is the land of israel and they concluded that to be good christians to be good americans it was their defining or dame judy to help those old jews get back to the land of israel and restore their ancient statement the notion of restoration isn't and it wasn't a at peripheral idea in colonial and post colonial market was very mainstream john adams the second president united states senate was as great a strain that one hundred i met one hundred thousand jewish soldiers would march back and shoot video as he called it and they claim it as a jewish kingdom abraham lincoln eighteen sixty three so that was his dream to help the jews go back to their land and to restore their sovereignty once he had restored unity in unites states after the civil war woodrow wilson the grandson and saw a presbyterian ministers when asked by the british whether they should issue

a declaration supporting the creation of the jewish national home that was then known as palestine and the bridge were debating this which are wilson came out and gave his full support of that declaration asked why he did it because all secretary of states that don't do it to be an oil boycott of israel was our guide states he said i did it because they think that the song of presbyterian ministers would have the honor of restoring the jews to the holy land woodrow wilson and a british issue that decorations those the balfour declaration in a nineteen forty seven that became the patient basis of the un partitioned resolution creating a jewish and arab states in palestine and the jewish state was set to come into being on may fourteenth nineteen forty eight a friday and again all of the foreign policy establishment in washington the state department the defense department the pentagon divides the present and i says not to recognize the jewish state it would be terrible to give the building will

boycott of united states europe would fall to the communist the jews of the country don't know how to defend themselves they've never had an army before the icy attorneys can have to go in there and the venom don't recognize the jewish state the president at the time jimmy by the name of harry truman actually had grown up a strict baptist he claimed to memorize the old testament my age fourteen after listening to the council of all of his senior advisors locked himself in the white house for forty eight hours and eleven at six eleven pm on may fourteen nineteen forty it's eleven minutes after the state of israel declared its independence harry truman made the united states the first nation on earth to recognize the newly created jewish day and he too was asked why did you do that everybody told you in a disaster what to do with harry truman had one answer he said i'm cyrus i'm cyrus susan you're nodding as and you know your bible in the old testament of course cyrus is the

ancient persian king who feels the problem filled the promise he rescued the jews from exile and restore them to their holy land i'm cyrus now america remains today the most religiously observant countries in the industrialized world more people more americans attend a house of worship of one type or another would be a church a mosque a synagogue in this country than in any other industrialized country and people are still reading their bible still reading god's promises to the jewish people to restore them to their promised land and they take that promise very seriously support for israel in this country is at a near all time high roughly three quarters of americans to find themselves as pro israel and the spiritual connection here it's actually essential civic it's essential component all that three quarters support there's no comes into being in nineteen forty eight not only as a jewish that it comes into being as a democratic

state and it's the only functioning democracy in the middle east for many many years it's a country which like the united states as a representative government it has a real of war as full equality for all the citizens our declaration of independence is drawing directly from the american declaration of independence promising full equality not only for religion and creed and race but also for sex in nineteen forty eight already record as an equality between the sexes and we are a country which nobody is above the law including former presidents of the country who have been found guilty of our defenses nobody's above the war we are a what we are part of a very small club in the world of a very select club of countries like the united states canada australia new zealand have never known a second a non democratic rule think about that very few

countries of comparable to prove they have a democracy and in spite of the tremendous pressures that is true isn't the word since its creation not a moment of peace we've never succumbed do not non democratic pro israel is your the country the middle east but as memorial for nine eleven outside of jerusalem to the only country and the least that has a memorial for martin luther king ranch observe martin luther king day with a memorial for john f kennedy outside jerusalem jerusalem forest where the only country the police that has not one but two replicas of the liberty bell went right down the street from a homebuilders in the rebel parks inscribed the words from leviticus from the bible may freedom ring throughout the land on the bike so you're happy strong spiritual connection to have the democratic shared values which it didn't have was a strategic alliance everyone listens and says that israel denies that have been allied to strategically militarily says ninety four he writes not true

in nineteen sixty seven that was a war sixteen works in which israel defeated several soviet act arab armies an honest be fought that battle internally with french arms the news a single american bought in that battle and on the seventh day as it were american policymakers woke up and said whoa there's this anti soviet powerhouse emily's we should be aligned with that country and thus was born the us his real strategic alliance which has flourished an urgent manner for me ever since we began where it again enjoyed training between us forces and israeli forces withdrew be an antimissile companies or special forces we set our largest ever joint maneuver in the fall between the us army and the mayor and the israeli defense forces if in that the development of

anti missile technology is a nice incentive built together the most advanced multilayered anti missile systems in the world beginning with the iron dome system which is for short range missiles which has proven to be the first and only an anti missile system to work in combat conditions during the recent fighting in november the iron dome system took down eighty five percent of the short range missiles that were fired or israeli cities and that's an historic record it is really an american naval vessels they'd ports of call does it at haifa they love why the sale is not quite tough is really know that american military planes land in israel and other stations a sort of unites states pre positioned about a billion dollars in military equipment in the state of israel produced by american forces we have probably the best intelligence sharing relationship anywhere with as it has with any other foreign country in the world we hear it all the

time for the intelligence committees in the senate and the congress is nothing approaching us israel intelligence cooperation we are involved in barbering american vehicles as a little kid what's your twitters of a communal farm in northern israel in the galilee was as he founded by americans back in nineteen forty nine that little kibbutz has provided armor for twenty thousand american military vehicles serving in iraq and afghanistan and the letters from parents and grandparents thank you for saving her kids desiring a sofa affective would provide an anti ballistic mechanisms for american armored vehicles for striking vehicles for bradley vehicles all that made by the state of israel divide drone aircraft bunn says that israel and every american military aircraft will be fixed wing or helicopters incorporates is really components and is really concepts israel is and every single one of those aircraft and israel's not only involved in the

battlefield in done in promoting american defenses is also saves lives for the small bust our company in jerusalem to develop a high tech bandage that applies pressure from the inside to leak and dead may remember this terrible incident and arizona seven years ago when congresswoman gabrielle giffords the shot or the swat team presenter that horrible incident had one of these is really in bandages and medical kit and apply to her wound immediately save her life is rivers provided a million of those bandages for american fighting force so there's really nothing like this relationship united states and israel on the battlefield orinoco medical hospitals or in the intelligence sharing community there's nothing like to have the spiritual connections democratic shared values the military alliance but now has eight fourth thriller in the us his relationship and i spent about thirty years studying

this relationship that i thought this before going to the jobs and bass or that promotes noodle and then i got the job and found out very humble and that i knew relatively little at the fact that the us relationship with israel was more multifaceted and deeper than anything i hadn't contemplated and one of the areas where it is deep deep deep and growing increasingly deeper is the area commercial connections israel today as america's twentieth largest customer in the world with a twelfth largest export destination for the united states we've surpass russia ireland spain argentina as the american customer at a time when american companies are not even outsourcing to asia israeli companies are outsourcing to the united states and tens of thousands of americans are employed by israeli companies whether be making high tech products or kudos

who succumbs regrettable factory in virginia says israeli company teva the world's largest generic drug company is an israeli company teva means nature you should never have to take to really killed one out of every five till she taken this country's attend a pill ten thousand people employed by kevin mays it was the first israeli bachelor puerto rico is in my district was ten but employs thousands of people in puerto rico fascinated and israel is the third most represented country on the nasdaq high tech exchange after small countries like china and to then it has this really eight million people were the third most were presented country on the nasdaq exchange because we're high tech giant in fact the united states and israel silicon valley was revealed as one body but the world high tech community and why is that we have the assets as we have the highest number of startup companies in the world five thousand started companies

we devote about half of our national income to our new data research and high tech israel undeveloped we're actually in all of your computers were an altar cellphones everything from the intuitive a browser you know when you type in the university of your new red tape and kansas state and it comes up to the state university on your browser that's an israeli invention your usb flash drive is an israeli invention all that comes the state of israel and all the american major american high tech companies with microsoft will grow up intel in hand there are indie centers in israel and ties to r and d centers in israel and apple is opening its first overseas research and development center in the state of israel's air apple products will also be developed in israel as well the extraordinary extraordinary developments occurred over the really of the last twenty years trade between united states and israel over last two decades has increased by three hundred and fifty percent two percent

folks we're living through turbulent times to the middle east and the entire region is wailing look at the papers today was occurring in north africa egypt syria everywhere you look we are engaged in change then isis and israel are together meeting these challenges do we agree on everything at times we have not agreed on everything we've had disagreements over the status of jerusalem very distinct with his close relationship is when the fuel lines in history or one member in the alliance doesn't recognize the capital the other for the record in israel does recognize what you see is that apple denies this we've had differences on matters related to the peace process with their differences now and to the reunion nuclear challenged the fact matters today on both these issues are positions are almost identical they both call for the direct and immediate resumption of peace talks between israel and the palestinian leadership leading to a two state solution for two peoples we

both committed to preventing iran from developing acquiring nuclear weapons the great litmus but in the alliance is not when the two partners to the line's agree on everything the great test is how you can overcome those differences and how you can move forward and find common ground and on every test every crucible he was his real alliance has proven to be one of the great unbreakable friendships in history looking forward to in the least two years from now two weeks for another two hours from now nobody can tell you what's going to happen this region i come from the field of history as a historian of problems predicting the past i'm not going to tell you what can happen in the least the next two hours is one thing that you think how you want certainty about our region and again whether it's to our two weeks two years twenty years there's going to be one country in this region which is stable which is economically robust which has a citizens

army which is larger than the british and french armies combined which is never known a nanosecond of non democratic governance and which is unabashedly unreservedly on equitably pro american you will never find an anti american demonstration in the state of missouri never american flights have never worked in the streets of this for their weight in the streets of a stroke come on our independence day when israelis waved israeli flags american flags together and there's no substitute for that just as there are no substitute for israel for the united states of america for the nazism and has no substitute the state of israel israel is not only america's ally israel is america's often ally what fjord listen to israeli ambassador michael oren forgave the one hundred fifty seconds landon lecture a kansas state university on january twenty nine two thousand

thirteen and after that war and now takes questions from the audience this one is monitored and if only khan department you looked as though the iranian nuclear program and if you can express more of a state of as i stand on that because we hear the officials that is to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons which is a very noble goal but the problem is how to tease that is i've spoken about surgical operations and we know they did that in nineteen eighty one with the iraqis and they did not stop the iraqi nuclear program sanctions is not working with north korea so what is the practical approach from the state of israel wants you if they want to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and that's a question that came with understand that a cake a nuclear armed iran pose is not one but

several existential threats says it's unusual network there's the threat that iran get a nuclear device stick it on top of one of its many missiles that it has to get any city in israel and many city in the middle east see that most cities in eastern europe already that's just the beginning of a threat next threat is that once iran acquires military nuclear capability that is the ability to make a missile that can revive it that those capabilities to the many terrorist groups that are supported by iran and you wanted a missile although he does a day a ship container and the third threat is that once iran acquires these capabilities other countries the police will acquire that capability as you may have noticed reading the news the last couple days we've been very ward together with united states and other middle eastern countries about the fate in control of the syrian chemical arsenal very big arsenal other critters the middle east and does the countries whose futures on certain acquire nuclear stockpiles will be worried about that not about chemical weapons that would bills so the existential

threat for us how do you stop it is not a trivial question you write very complicated if it's done we have long supported a prison obama's leadership of the sanctions program in the world sanctions against iran have proven more effective than just about anybody ever predict that in a huge chunk of the ring an economy beset the iranian currency into a nosedive they're hurting alas the sanctions have not stopped the nuclear program as a north korean fact according to un observers the nuclear program is accelerating they've got more highly enriched uranium they built more underground bunkers and faster we still believe that a combination of escalating sanctions linked with a credible military threat can perhaps or dissuade the iranian regime from pursuing these nuclear weapons why the credible nuclear for what a credible military threat that means that when you really leaders decide ok they're thinking to themselves were paying a high price

for this program but you know they were actually listen to the show for going to have the nuclear device but if they can be persuaded that they're paying the price for not that they won't have ever know they won't have the device in the day because nobody military option then we think they could be dissuaded that is why both me and the united states together to say that all options remain on the table with one exception is containment is not an option and i'm like you know when the when the presidents defenders obama says he's not bluffing i believe he's not bluffing and israel too has a right to defend itself and we have the right and to the abilities to defend ourselves and germ whitaker with a regime that is promising to wipe us off the map virtually and i at daily or weekly if not daily basis i would have never seriously and turn the surgeon is also supporting terror in the world of foreign terror around the region it's not just an israeli interest folks it's it's a middle eastern interest is the same as

humans but back in basra said that skilling sixty thousand of his own citizens that support terror on the world's energy in the plot to blow up a restaurant downtown washington dc a plot to blow up our embassy you do not want people to have nuclear weapons not for i outline as jake seeking out last week in the parliamentary elections that centrist party one i believe it was nineteen seats i which is still nothing compared to like mr netanyahu's party however my question is to do you really this has any significance for either the us israeli relationship or the palestinian peace process the question i think it's done i think that if the palestinians combat and the notion to end and for to last for years with exception of about six hours in september two thousand and they haven't been that the negotiating table i think double fine day of an israeli government that there is not as willing to negotiate willing to make the hard decisions and we understand that at making this two state solution no voc able sacrifices people sacrifice for the

palestinians' painful sacrifices for us and dumb crimes the dow now two years ago in addressing a joint session of congress said women have not for themselves then event the creation of a palestinian state in the west bank they're going to be israeli settlements that a widely on israel's border yesterday a tough call for him i think that the you know the yeah the outcome of the elections that stewart was never performed in a coalition did you vote for the quarterback mostly malaysian middle linebacker to it in israel are likely both the whole team including the special teams so were going out across a putting together the drinking and double trouble and i'm israel and israeli firms i think at the end of this process will having a stable the widely representative israeli government that will represent center centers where weston to write on and will be able to make that difficult choices all we need is the past is a dallas leadership table you got an administration

wasn't for this very committed to reaching peace and we welcome that commitment and we hope the past is the veil themselves what i think is unique opportunity in history veteran my name is over i am a question and the legendary so maybe not a foreign policy expert my question is that on the arab peace initiative israel has not completely accepted why it actually has not accepted all the arab peace initiative that would actually go for a two state solution and at the same time stop the entire war that happens between skirmishes whether between israel and palestine and rehab not as those who are looking from the arab world not seen any progress saying that dr peace initiative is not the solution why do you think that it is our

hope it'll be just correcting misconceptions we've accepted the arab peace initiative as one of the bases of the peace talks it's not true that we rejected it and to rethink its destructive we didn't say that his initiative calls for this is that the data will recognize israel accept israel's existence once we withdraw the sixty seven borders we divide the resume and dumb and find a good likable solution to the refugee problem we have problems of dissent wars because they were not defensible as rose board reported this december eight miles wide where they're faced announcer back to season one defensible borders we have accepted big the president's formal but says it was it was important mutually agreed swaps means that the parties will not be going back to sixty seven borders is getting is the diplomatic term you know insider ball but i understand that that that the citizen borders are one of the parameters are not the only parameters and

turn and our position on jerusalem as different so we say is the carcass initiative can be won all the bases a peace negotiations not the only days that these negotiators cause they're things that africa peacefully of the carcasses of actually negotiated between us and the palestinians including the status of jerusalem and transgendered now says our position as the jews and should remain the undivided capital of israel but we understand that thousands of different position and we understand that a thousand to bring a position to negotiate for negotiation we understand we don't like the sixty seven borders mr nelson is like the city's important to negotiate about the refugee issue for us is an existential issue because today there in the world many millions of palestinian refugees and their descendants people is now grandchildren great grandchildren if they were to come back to what they call pre sixty seven israel if you're not interested in more of the palestinian state and israel so we think that the past and really should be settled in the palestinian nation state so that has to be negotiated as well so what i'm

saying is the arab peace initiatives constructive we welcome that as a contribution and we will serve as one of the bases of the negotiations hi a massacre or my name's james howard two days ago is international holocaust day i'm sure your greatest was an important day for the nation of israel i was just and from what i've been modified in my own research and many palestinian and that arab textbooks a lot of jewish in israeli history is actually not taught i'm from what i was able to find also that a lot of israeli history books for students that a lot of arab and palestinian history to that wang was also not taught i was just wondering if you thought if we're both sides were actually talk more about the other's history there pointed you do you think that would help and resulting better communication towards the grounds of peace i think you're right it i taught history for many years to a day at the universal level than in

israel and done all i can say is that from my perspective in the size of history departments in israel i we do teach the palestinian narrative we teach it as the palestinian areas i don't think that that is reciprocated on the palestinian side i think that there the past used to do a much better job up hearing their young people for peace and i think that that the lack of preparation is correct as much as players riverboat united states as well more has to be done there but i'll go beyond saying we're just said and say that in order for there to be true peace we do not have to except one another's narratives we israelis have a narrative of of repatriation of coming back for homeland of re establishing our ancient sovereignty based on four thousand years of history we have a narrative of emerging from the ashes of the holocaust we haven't heard me in a narrative of draining swamps in making the desert bloom an absorbing and millions of immigrants from around the world that are narrative thousands of this now they've given out of disposition were not accept one another's now that's

what we're going to have to do to make peace is recognize that we have to the narratives and learn to make peace between those narratives that nice day they're never going to be a be reconciled entirely they will clash but understand then i for one speaking not as invested as rose i recognize that there's a generic the thousands have their narrative we have to respect their narrative and more than half do was some data around the negotiating table in areas will become very important maria master captain just to do our you know states air force also the real reason the great state of new jersey a surgeon you tell us finding that the attacks what sort of increased security measures are taken of your consulate or others in the middle east thank you iowa says the more time defending the state of new jersey right to defending the state of israel lobby state of kansas may know our own on the same way

we and we we respond to threats and i'm sticking into great detail about this we've had to that i mentioned that obliquely in passing just recently that at the same time it was a plot to kill my saudi counterparts in washington and iranian plot in a local restaurant that we discovered was a particular industry and gunshots that if we we employ dozens of american citizens and our embassy to switch to young people it turns out it would've been a horrendous horrendous tragedy in aggression and that have occurred some during a paramedic on very high alert and we know we doubled our security members lodges ms asay we're always on high alert is really the target you want to just run for example has as either plotting to war successfully carried out terrorist attacks across five continents and twenty five cities including washington say under the attacks against our embassies in

india and in thailand enter turkey cyprus and to the whole list and we have our arsenal yet we have to respond to fluctuations in alert levels just as the american embassies do we know how complex that is i had to get used to having security details around the libyans when the greater challenges of being an ambassador never been alone right right right and you get used to it sometimes we have some puzzles those levels go up investor warren first off i'd like to thank you for your service to our country on my question was on since there seems to be an escalating conflict with iran and potentially a war between israel and iran and that near future

why and four and because palestine being a big reason for that and not wreck not recognizing them as a nation and having the peace talks why is the us not more forthright with peace negotiations are not for some uranium issue understand that no country in the world has a greater interest in finding a diplomatic solution to the iranian nuclear threat that is right that we had lost in the game we we are threatened with national annihilation we are neurons backyard where the small country the size of new jersey which would have visited to present his the incident a mob of our countries as his desert so we have a desire and avoiding a conflict that the rights were trying to do by supporting it but they're supporting sanctions and by calling for a credible military threat responding to muhammad's question earlier length as for the palestinian she was the the b bombers tradition as bubbly as the bush was written before to be fair about the smoothest

region the indianapolis our conference in two thousand seven to the peace conference have been committed to trying to get the palestinians to agree to the two state solution now there are number of odd number of obstacles that israel built in the year two thousand in the year two thousand and eight made a two state solution offers to the palestinian leadership which called with those offers included all of gaza up just about the entirety of the west bank about ninety five of the west bank and have the jurors were ample times of officer turned out beyond that we have to be a deeper problems media rounds that israel we call for an ad states to call for the creation of a solution based on two states for two peoples which means that we in his will recognize that there is a palestinian people in doubt within an unassailable right of self determination we cannot get the palace to say the same about us that the jews are eight people in doubt the same right

to self determination you have house and it has a zipper support the two state solution but not two states for two peoples and we believe that that is the only way that they'll be permanent legitimate peace you'll recognize me i recognize you live side by side we still can get the fellas is to agree to recall end of claims and of conflict when you when you had these agreements on a wind says okay now we've made peace but where the palestinian position right now you sign on the dotted line and a crate to state that's not the end of it and then you can begin to start pressing further claims which means the conflict goes on an improper defense minister has called is not the two state solution that the two state solution was the second stage is as was the solution can have it either so they're obstacles along the way at the end of the day there is no there is no alternative to sitting down at a table and thrashing out all these problems on fourchon the thousands of now moves into the latter when the un to declare their state's with there

was unfortunate but the comeback negotiating table our position is and i say this a campus as an opposition is renewed direct peace talks without preconditions today in jerusalem and ramallah in kansas we don't hear as moses with us sir ah my name is fighting our own young professor of food science yemeni people lebanon was their duty to two thousand war israel has won the war i happen to be my family and six thousand six and looking at the title at that the united states hold off for the regulation defining terrorism it talks about the targeting of civilian service infrastructure and yet during that war so many israeli leaders came out of people are saying that with this oil infrastructure in lebanon and then i sold

without water without electricity water human rights watch and amnesty international force israel and hezbollah for talking civilians and it so it might open up don't you think that's taken away chipping away at israel's supposedly moral high ground and also coupled off or face possible to connect you with all respect i think lebanon is another democracy in the middle east this beacon of high from my mother mrs hyper she's been jews were thrown out by a jewish voters in nineteen forty eight of her home and her family heifer for sixty five years i'd like to be a copy of that the uk maybe you can tell someone asked me i had to get my kids that they stayed together that expensive you know the first union funded by flooding as the last set of questions wrestled two thousand sikhs wore

us about fighting ethnic democracy in lebanon that's what was mistaken one at a time into our life and we have episodes as i mean we have we have a very active reserve units and i continue we continue serving it well into our car fifties in his roots and done either dissipated and all that sort of has been the first level on mortgages are we call the second lebanon war i'm speaking from experience here including the two thousand at the gaza operation was recently is that i was still in uniform and with the gray hair and all and all i can see the two thousand six lebanon war never the war was started by hezbollah that they conducted a day and which one of our of our unit so that was a drawing on our southern border killed eight soldiers and we struck back then his boss drug that with thousands of rockets fired at our civilian cities including five it actually showed a preferred duty in life and we were being shelled the time an important duty under shell fire under rocket fire

thousands of rockets now with hezbollah we face as with hamas and the country faces a huge problem they embed themselves in civilian areas in beirut for their headquarters was like downtown where they work they really have it brought to the nsa the white house pictures of hizbollah rocket sites that are built literally inside civilian houses the roof rockets opens up the issue they want us should those houses because hezbollah not only as a military strategy as a media strategy has a diplomatic strategy know that when the strike that we're in a new position of herding civilians and we'll be condemned by the international media and will be condemned in international forums like the un agree our study to read martin cal very steamy a journalism story and wrote a study from harvard kennedy school called his boss victor in the media were two thousand six destroying recommended it had a translator and give it to the uk and israeli jails that was such a great his works look how they did

it and they are trying to prey situation were we have to strike back its athletes today now is is now close to seven years after this war his goal has not only quadrupled the number of rockets and its arsenal as the largest forced rocket arsenal on the world over seventy thousand rockets into southern lebanon they had built a rocket installations under villages and it was very direct twenty five thousand rockets out of the tiny river under village is if they start shooting us in addition to build it and it's really a tremendous moral dilemma for us and we will have to face probably sanctioning and an old book leon an international web you'll be unpleasant does this mean we don't make mistakes but we make mistakes and dealing in in densely populated areas whether it be in the road or in gaza with an enemy that often doesn't wear uniform than beds itself behind civilian positions there will be human tragedies the difference between us and them is that

when they shoot at our civilians they are doing their best to kill the maximum of israeli civilians we should backup and we're doing our best and then my as the number of civilians we heard and when they kill an israeli civilian it's a victory they dance when we kill whether the lebanese or palestinian for us it's a tragedy it's a walk we failed it's i think that there's no easy solution here lest anybody who served in afghanistan and iraq on the side how difficult that can be the second point i fell for the year it's kind of i write an issue high tide was an example in the mighty voice in nineteen forty eight war where the jewish leadership of haifa came to the abdomen is a dog leave the city please don't leave the city and in fact many thousands of our state and the city and today they're into a part of life and our life and you one example of true co existence of israel but i think where you have a very successful arab community to lead a successful arab christian

committee arab christians in israel are per capita better educated and more affluent than israeli jews very successful community and your sunday when again we come back to negotiating table the question of refugees the question of palestinian refugees from israel and jewish refugees from arab lands greater number greater number of jews were kicked out of arab lands but will come on the table and questions of their reconciliation compensation will be will be addressed then but again oldest predicated on someone sitting on the other the table as for whether being a democracy lebanon has had an interregnum of functioning democracies reason is rising as rosa lee functioning democracy in the middle east and yet stress that right now it's hard just it's hard to make a case that that lebanon is a fully functioning democracy and honestly ask her freedom house which registers it has a scale of functioning democracies in the least it's in washington dc it's a very respected think tank israel is the only true market in the least according to freedom house was not an extension of israeli

government so my aunt just you know it's a perfect israel i talked about you know the turmoil in our region whether it be in syria in egypt you know there's some spillover into lebanon me seeing many threats and challenges in the region but we also see opportunities and no country would be happier to say the emergence of truly peace loving functioning democracies in the middle east we've been proud to say we're the only functioning democracy than sixty three four years we would be prouder and happier still to say that we are one of many in the middle east if you've been listening to michael oren the israeli ambassador to the united states ambassador oren gave the one hundred sixty second landon lecture at kansas state university on january twenty ninth two thousand thirteen audio for today's keep your prisons was provided by case state media services i'm kate mcintyre kbr

present is a production of kansas public radio at the university of kansas this week a new chapter in the wizard of oz story opens in movie theaters it oz the great and powerful new disney film directed by family next time i'm katie are present will go back to old friend bombs original book the wonderful wizard of oz and the nineteen thirty nine movie the wizard of oz i'm j mcintyre join me in a club next sunday evening for this special rebroadcast from the wizard of oz is seventieth anniversary with our scholars and the president of the international wizard of oz fan club we're off to see the wizard on the next katy our prisons eighty five sunday evening on kansas public radio where

they're there his case and it's because

years earlier

for years nice

this business is