Some people have requested that I put my speech up on the web for perusal since that frigid day in Colorado kept some people from attending. So here it is in its entirety....
"Thank you for coming to celebrate our close friendship with Israel today. Several hundred years ago, a few brave men and women set out to escape religious persecution and political oppression. Their oppressors were institutionalized churches and monarchs. The inquisition, beheadings, torture, excessive taxes and other tyranny were commonplace. The unrighteous monarchs and church officials wielded their power with God’s name and smited anyone who disagreed with them.
But a few brave souls had the courage to settle in a new land of opportunity. They braved the vast Atlantic Ocean to land in the New World to live in freedom from such tyranny. Today we live in a nation free from tyranny of institutionalized religion, we can grieve our government without being punished, we may express ourselves politically; we can organize peacefully and demonstrate. It is truly amazing that a few righteous individuals were able to create a nation such as ours and truly we can say that we are blest.
There is another nation of people who are seeking to escape religious persecution. In fact, these people have been struggling to have freedom for thousands of years. Atrocities came upon them by other religious persuasions for one simple reason, and none other: they were Jewish. The 20th century brought about the single-most terrible act of genocide in human history with the death of millions of Jews, the Holocaust.
Since the late 19th century the Jewish freedom lovers have been actively seeking to return to their homeland and official recognition has been given to them by the League of Nations before WW II and after it with the United Nations. Jewish refuges from all over the world found a home in it.
After thousands of years of persecution and ethnic genocide, the Jewish Zionists could have established any number of tyrannical forms of government. After all, what had the world taught the Jewish people? Death, oppression, genocide, dictatorships, monarchies, and religious institutionalism I would suggest to you.
But what did the Jews establish for themselves? Taking the model of English Parliament with American liberal democracy, Israel carved her niche in the world as a free democracy. It gave specific rights to all its citizens, regardless of race, color, gender or religion.
Today, we celebrate a common destiny with Israel. We share a common vision for the future of the human race. We hold up our lights of freedom bravely and solidly. We envision a world ruled by its people and living peacefully amongst each other. We hope to celebrate and appreciate diversity and multiple cultures while remaining focused in our path of being the leaders of the world. We cherish the torch of freedom and we look into the eyes of destiny without hesitation and say, “We are a free people and we offer hope for the whole world.”
Unfortunately, there are those who hate America and hate Israel. There are people who hate the children of Israel and despise our common vision of freedom. After all, our vision of the world is threatening to the dictator. The American and Israeli vision is against those who advocate genocide and religious persecution. Yes, the tyrants and mafia-style governments of the world quiver at the thought of freedom. Moreover, they will say anything and do anything to oppose it.
This isn’t a partisan issue either. The opponents of freedom don’t care if you are a liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican. They aren’t interested in the difference between “Green” thought or capitalistic Libertarianism. They aren’t even concerned with the difference between women and children and soldiers. All freedom lovers and those who live in freedom are the enemy of tyrants.
Sharing a common destiny means we are mutually attacked with hate, lies, and terrorism.
I have recently heard by those who are against the Jews having sovereignty, that Israel is somehow illegitimate because it “doesn’t have a constitution.” However this is not true. Any political science major on campus should be able to recite that there are parliaments in the world that have constitutions which are not written down. A classic example is the United Kingdom. The UK doesn’t have a written constitution, is it some how illegitimate?
I have heard tales of Zionist, Jewish world conspiracies including world banks, the illuminati, and the Masons. I have heard of the so-called Protocols of the Elders of Zion which states that the Gentiles or Goyim are to be ruled over by the Jew. I have heard fantastic tales of the Jews using the Holocaust to justify what is called ethnic genocide. I have heard stories of the Jewish people being Nazis and fascists. This vast Zionist conspiracy is supposed to include the media and Hollywood and the major nations of the Western World.
I would find it fanciful fiction of a crazed minority if weren’t for the fact that these are exactly the same statements made by the anti-Semites of the 1930’s in Europe. That makes this infinitely more serious. Worse yet, they are statements of the leaders of nations like Indonesia, the former Iraqi government and Iran. And these malicious genocide invoking tales are in the text books of the youth in the Arab world.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were proven to be a fake, who knows what the illuminati are, if they even exist, and by far the majority of Masons are Christians, not Jews. The liberal media is most certainly not a friend of the State of Israel and Hollywood does not support Judeo-Christian values.
In reality, this is nothing more than the same hatred of the Jews that occurred in the last century. We would think that in the 21st century this sort of hatred would be dead. But it is not and it lives on. Consequently, Jewish people flee from all over the globe to Israel to escape this hatred, not unlike the people who come from all over the world to America to escape tyranny and oppression and hatred.
Some people claim that they are not anti-Semitic, only against the State of Israel, but is there a difference? Is not denying the Jews a homeland of which they have lived for thousands of years not anti-Semitic?
I have also heard that Israel is not the ally and friend of the United States. I have heard that we send Israel billions of dollars and receive nothing in return. So I did some research on this and I discovered that this is just not true.
I would like to share with you some examples of what I found:
· Recently, it was Israeli technology that developed the first passive vaccine against the West Nile virus.
· Diabetes patients no longer have to administer painful injections of insulin due to Israeli medical technology.
· The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug to fight cancer, which is the result of 30 years of research by Israeli scientists, Velcade.
· Israeli researchers have found that an antibiotic used for years against common infections may have the remarkable ability to correct a genetic flaw in cystic fibrosis. This may lead to a revolutionary way of treating other intractable genetic diseases.
· The US Supreme Court Justice, Stephen Breyer recently stated that Israel can teach us how to balance human rights and fight against terror.
· Israeli scientists have harnessed the power of DNA to create a self-assembling nanoscale transistor. Now we have the technology to use DNA proteins and molecular biology to construct electronic devices.
· Israel has designed military technology that allows our pilots to lock onto a target simply by looking at it. This and other technologies are protecting American soldiers in Iraq right now.
Those are just a few examples of Israel’s contributions to the world.
But is Israel our friend and ally? The answer is yes.
No other country votes more consistently with America in the UN; Israel fights the War on Terror with us and Israel stands by us in the good times and in the bad.
So Israel contributes to technology and is a staunch ally of the US, but do we really have a common destiny?
Again, the answer is YES!
We truly have a common destiny with Israel.
· Just like America, in Israel you can choose your religion, and be free from institutionalized religion.
· You can express yourself freely in your speech and in your writing.
· You have guaranteed individual rights including those of the right to live, to be free from oppressive regimes and oppressive religion, the right to practice your religion in your own way, the right to peacefully assemble, to protest, the right to listen to whatever music you choose and dance to it or not dance to it, the right to watch whatever movie you choose, read whatever literature you desire and say whatever feel about it.
In fact, Israel is the only country in the Middle-East that protects these important and inalienable human rights to which every man, woman and child on Earth possesses.
To quote someone who was much more informed than I am: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done. How desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy."
Again, I thank each of you for coming out today and supporting our two great nations, the last best hope for the whole world.
God Bless America, God Bless Israel, and may there be peace on Earth."
