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>> SUSANNAH HESCHEL:
So it's remarkable
that the Jewish community
in Israel and elsewhere --
Jewish community includes people
with widely divergent opinions
about Israel and
about Zionism.
Widely divergent.
We have to ask ourselves
can we get along?
Now, there is a cacophony
about debate about Zionism
and about Israel that involves
Jews certainly but also nonJews.
We have a debate that's
intense, passionate,
and it's often very angry.
And it's a debate that
other people listen to.
It's not just a
Jewish debate.
At the same time there's
something very Israeli
about all that debating.
The Israeli government itself
depends on having alliances
of political parties that
have special interests,
that can be quite diverse in
their opinions and their views.
There are sometimes rather
extreme political positions
that are expressed in Israel's
Parliament, the Knesset.
Sometimes we also have to know,
admit, there have been corrupt
officials at the highest
echelons of government.
We're now aware that two former
Presidents have had to step down
out of office; were
convicted of crimes.
There's a former Prime Minister
who may have to serve time
in prison.
It's an unvarnished,
unpleasant reality.
And it brings me back to a
memory when I was a child.
I heard someone say, quoting one
of the early Zionist leaders,
we'll really be a normal
state of Israel when we have
our first Jewish criminal.
And I was shocked by that.
I wasn't sure we really
wanted a normal state.
I'm not sure we
do actually.
I would like Israel to be
special, to be different,
to be almost Messianic
and prophetic.
But we live in
a real world.
That's true.
And sometimes we have to
recognize that certain
political opinions and
judgments can be valid.
But they can also be a bit
narrow-minded or a bit
Messianic, a little
bit too optimistic.
It's a problem.
No country can think about
itself or be judged by others
without considering the
broader implications.
We're in a big global world.
We're all intertwined.
So strategy isn't only
about military concerns;
it's also about
other issues.
We have political
diplomatic interests,
but we also talk about
the culture of a country,
what it stands for,
what it's proud of.
Israel is actually
not a small country.
The land area is tiny.
We know that.
But the impact is enormous,
and extraordinary.
The research, the discoveries,
the inventions in so many fields
have touched the lives of
almost every human being
in the world today.
Whether it's through an app or
a drug that's been invented
to cure a disease, or a great
novel, or a fascinating new way
to understand an academic
topic -- medieval history.
Sometimes I compare Israel to
some of the other countries
that have somewhat
similar history.
I think about other countries
that emerged let's say from
British mandate followed by war,
ethnic and religious divisions,
started out as a miserable
economy, bare infrastructure,
and had to build
itself up.
I think of Israel, and I think
of those countries that still
haven't lifted themselves
out of poverty, illiteracy,
military dictatorship.
Israel has a
long road still.
But the progress
is extraordinary.
So what do we do with
our divergent positions?
Yes, there are many Jews
who are very critical of
Israeli policies.
And some are very critical
of the fact that they feel
we have to all agree on a single
perspective about Israel.
There are some Jews who object
to the financial support that
Israel, the Israeli government
gives to the Haredi,
the ultraOrthodox
community.
There are others who feel
that Israel should abide by
Jewish law entirely.
There are some who are opposed
to West Bank settlements,
and some who believe that
we've liberated that land,
the West Bank, as part
of Biblical Israel.
There are Jews who are angered
by the Orthodox control of
Jewish marriage
and divorce.
And there are many people
who are upset about Israel's
military response to the
attacks that it's received,
rockets from Gaza coming
into Israeli territory.
There are so many objections
that people have.
What I tell my students is
that they can come and
tell me anything.
They can tell me left wing,
they can tell me right wing.
Of course as long as they make
their points in a respectful
fashion, and in an informed way,
and in a tone that's appropriate
to a university, and not simply
to a conversation on the street,
they can come and
tell me anything.
I have friends who
are very right wing,
and friends who are
very left wing.
I've heard it all.
And I find myself sometimes
agreeing with one side
and other times with
the other side.
Everyone has some
good points to make.
And I also find that often my
friends and colleagues speak in
an almost Messianic tone, as
if wanting to see in Israel
a kind of perfection; perfection
that may remind us of what
the prophets hope for.
But it's a perfection that
isn't going to come until
the Messianic age arrives.
So perhaps what we need to
do is listen to one another,
not to get a little
too upset about it.
I think that our human
judgment is limited.
I really don't know in the end
which position is going to be
the right one, the
right path to follow.
We'll find out, I
suppose, eventually.
But I do think as Jews we bring
our moral values to bear.
And what we also always keep
in mind is that while land is
important, as my father said,
we do not worship the soil.
What is most important are
human beings, and human life.
That's most important.
And what we strive for always
for those human beings
is making peace.
And that's what Israel has
to represent for all of us.
