>> mmy governor rick snyder and gina mccarthy will testify on the waeter crisis in flint, michigan. this will be the third hear on the contamination. we'll take you there live at 9:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span 3. >> every week on american history tv on c-span 3, feature programs that tell the american story. some of the highlights for this weekend include saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. eastern on lectures in history. dickinson college professor david o'connell discusses presidential legacies and the factors that contribute to a successful presidential term. and at 10:00 p.m. on real america, in september of 1963,

two months prior to his death, president kennedy traveled across the united states to promote conservation of natural resources for future generations. on road to the white house rewind, a 1984 democratic iic e in atlanta includes former vice president walter mondale, gary hart of colorado and john lynn of ohio. former presidential nominee george mcgovern and reverend jesse jackson. for the complete american history tv weekend schedule, go to cspan.org. israeli defense minister moshe ya'alon speaks object concerns about the iran nuclear deal in washington, d.c. this is just over an hour. >> good morning, everyone. and thank you all for coming.

i'm joseph gildenhorn, former ambassador and wilson international scepter board of trustees. thank you for being here. let me recognize an important group who are central to the success of the wilson center. we thank our outstanding president james harmon who regrets she cannot be here today, but extends her best regards. let me also acknowledge andre barke. the plam continues to be a key form in washington for serious discussion of northeast issues. we're also pleased and honored to be joined by israel's outstanding ambassador to the united states, ron derr who is here with us today. thank you, ron.

and i would like to welcome and recognize major general yako yakov iashe accompanying the minister. and sandra gerber, a member of our cabinet. never has the middle east region been as unstable and challenging as it is today. syria is in chaos. iran continues to assert its power in the region. the israeli/palestinian conflict continues with no end in site. russia is now a new factor in the equation in syria. we asked how does israel, a small yet powerful country that sits in the middle of this region prioritize these challenges. and more importantly, what is israel's current stat strategy for dealing with them?

there are no better people qualified to address these nen the minister of defense mosh moshe ya'alon who is in washington to meet with ash carter who's also a very good friend of the wilson center. we are so pleased to have you, mr. minister. welcome to washington. it is also my pleasure to welcome aaron david miller, vice president of the wilson center, and middle east expert who will lead this conversation. please join me in welcoming them both. [ applause ] >> joey, thank you so much. you have done so much for the

wilson center. you have no idea how greatly we appreciate your efforts. mr. minister, you were here in 2012. i want to welcome you back to the woodrow wilson international center for scholars, the living memorial to 28th president, the only ph.d. president and the only president buried in washington, d.c. which is perhaps a commentary, however sad, on what our presidents thought of the nation's capital in their time here. the two of us go back a long way. at least since the late '80s and early '90s. we have watched the u.s.'s relationship develop, we watched the ups, mostly downs, when it came to the pursuit of arab-israeli peace and even when we disagreed, i always appreciated the clarity and economy of language with respect to your analysis.

i continue to believe that if you want to change the world, you have to first understand it and that requires at times sober judgments on the way the world is rather than the way we want it to be. the format today is to have a 20, 25 minute conversation what are the key challenges and are you pretty confident that in fact, there will be an agreement. >> good morning, everybody. thank you, ambassador, for the introduction. thank you, everyone, for hosting me tonight. in thinking about our discussion here in 2012, so many issues have been changed, so many developments in our region that we have to discuss. first of all, i'm here to discuss the cooperation between the united states of america and the state of israel regarding defense. we do enjoy a stable relationship when it comes to the pentagon or minister of

defense, similarly between the secretary of defense, ash carter, and myself, the armed forces both sides, intelligence agencies, for the benefit of our two countries, talking about common values and no doubt common interests shared between our two countries and though we might have a couple of disputes which we have in the last couple of years and even now regarding the challenges ahead of us and the way that we should deal with them. the issue is on the table. we hope to conclude it as soon as possible. i have agreed with the secretary of defense about the capabilities available to the state of israel to keep what we call our collective military edge in the region and hopefully

we will be able to sign the mou sooner rather than later. of course, when we talk about the u.s. support to our country regarding defense, we are very appreciative. we are thankful to the administration led by president barack obama but we do have -- regarding the future. we believe iran of today is more confident and free to act in the region with more money as a result of the sanctions relief, violating many u.n. resolutions, international resolutions regarding the proliferation of arms and more money now as a result of sanctions relief to finance hezbollah in lebanon, to finance hamas and other rogue elements in the region and to go on with the terror infrastructure in five continents, including north america, south america, europe,

asia, africa and the middle east. so they haven't changed their nature. they chant death to america, they consider america as the great satan, we are likely to be considered as a minor satan. very provocative regarding the ballistic missile which is a violation of u.n. resolution. just provocative tests last week on one of the missiles and believe israel should be wiped off the map. those reasons are part of the

consideration when we talk about mou for the next decade and of course, the arms race in our region as a result of the deal, the sunni regime in the region share a lot of common interest with us nowadays are going to procure weapons for about $200 billion. so in this case, issue of the

mou has to be concluded and we hope it will be concluded very soon. >> i'm going to push you on the u.s./israel relationship just a bit. we both watched this relationship develop over the

years and there have been tensions, differences of opinion between american presidents and israeli prime ministers before. the current prime minister in his first term and bill clinton. bush 43 and ariel sharon. this relationship, though, has been battered and hammered and there seems to me to be a loss of -- an absence of trust and confidence. israeli-u.s. relationships can be dysfunctional but productive. we have seen in the ones i mentioned that yes, there's dysfunction but it's also -- they can also produce things. this relationship seems to be kind of defying the laws of political gravity. i guess my question is when the

administration says whatever the difference is between the prime minister and the president, that it is committed to security relationship and institutional nature of the u.s.-israel relationship is sound, closer than ever, is that a statement you would agree with or has the relationship between the two at the top begun to affect the nature of the u.s.-israel relationship? >> our relationship, talking about the relationship between united states and state of israel, are connected by open channels on a daily basis, intelligence sharing know-how, experience, technologies.

when it comes to certain challenges, we might have differences. the big difference, our approach to the deal with iran. we do have differences regarding what should have been done in syria, what should be done in syria. the fact is this regime in tehran has become central party in order to solve the problems in the middle east. why? because they are ready to fight daesh. to allow them to gain hegemony

in the region and this is the case so far, because i would say the shiite radical axis led by iran, hezbollah in lebanon, the houthis in yemen, shiite elements in bahrain, saudi arabia, this axis is exploiting the deal now to gain hegemony. for sure the hegemony in tehran, in a way hegemony in baghdad with the government, hegemony in beirut regarding hezbollah and now there is going to be hegemony in damascus. so to perceive iran as a central

player in solving or settling, bringing about stability to the region, no way. so to leave us, talking about syria, with iran dominating syria, we can't believe it. and this is the case so far. looking to the last two years, going back to the last two years regarding terror attacks perpetrated on syrian soil, in golan heights, the ten of them, that were all of them, actually, ten terror attacks, perpetrated, operated by iran revolutionary guard. not even one attack by sunni and they did it from -- governed in the territory. not one attack forms opposition to territory. whether it was rocket launchings, explosive along the border and so forth. revolutionary guard and quds forces. so to allow now iran to be situated on our border, we don't share a border with iran. of course, we don't have any dispute with this regime whatsoever. but they still want israel to be wiped off the earth. why? because of their ideology. there is no room for a jewish

state in what they call the islamic state. to allow iran to dominate syria is disrespect. we have a dispute about situation in iran. we didn't favor the muslim brotherhood government. of course, we do not intervene even in syria. we have very clear policy regarding our experience. but when 30 million egyptians went to the street to get rid of the muslim brotherhood government, we thought that to allow general assisi, my counterpart at that time, to take over the military abilities, to become the president, it should have been western interest, let's put it this way. that was a dispute. and of course, when it comes to [ inaudible ], what is the call

of the public? this occupation since '67 -- occupation since '48, which is our existence. so let's deal with it first of all by common understanding of the challenge. if you don't understand, if you don't agree about this, how can you agree about the. [ inaudible ] 1500 casualties. it's about so many misconceptions regarding the conflict. and not make more mistakes. as we did agree in the past we made many mistakes.

today we have a situation in which no doubt we are going through geopolitical [ inaudible ]. long story but basically the nation, artificial nation state collapsed. that's now the lesson of history. why did it happen? western leaders were sitting after world war i creating artificial borders, ignoring gadhafi, ignoring the culture, the mentality in the region, seeking to -- the middle east. forgetting that in europe, it took about 200 years for the agreement and even in europe, yugoslavia, was a collapse or the failure. again, sectarian differences, sectarian religious differences and so forth. we claim it was a result of western mistakes, whether it was

naivete, wishful thinking or patronism. we try to implement what we believe is a realistic strategy in the region. we don't claim they should become [ inaudible ]. to propose, to offer, you can't for democracy by election. one person, one vote, once, no second chance for the opposition. it might have happened in egypt. they exploited the rules of the game not to bring about democracy. so this kind of difference should be discussed. we believe that living in the region, we have some understanding regarding the

challenges. we have many ideas, many thoughts about what should be done in this chaotic situation. by avoiding naivete, by avoiding wishful thinking and by avoiding patronism the way that it was done in the past about the middle east. >> mr. minister, if it's true that where you stand in life is driven by where you sit, i'm

wondering whether or not there isn't a structural divide which is very difficult to bridge. we miss it with non-predatory neighbors to our north and south and fish to our east and west. one historian called our liquid assets. these oceans are very important. you sit in a different environment and in a different region. regardless of whether there's a republican or democrat in the white house, seems to me that

those differences particularly in view of the geopolitical earthquake you're strike and the instability, can only grow. i'm a great believer in the special nature of this relationship. i worry about it from time to time as well. before we move off this, because i do want to get to questions from the audience, what is the one thing in your view that you think washington, hard to speak about official washington, but we will keep it generic to avoid the r and d problem, what is the one thing in your view that washington gets wrong about israel? and the national security challenges it faces? >> you will allow me two things?

>> i will. >> one is the challenge of iran. as i said earlier, we do argue. i also believe that the deal might bring about a change in the atmosphere in iran and to have more moderate regime in tehran. our assessment that we are not going to expect -- in tehran. and this regime in a smart way, in a very smart way, succeeded in keeping the indigenous capabilities to have a nuclear war. they didn't have to destroy anything regarding the nuclear project which is very important for them. and within 10 to 15 years or even earlier, they might acquire the capabilities. i believe that if and when this regime will feel confident

regarding the economy, rehabilitation of the economy, they might decide to break off. it might be five years, seven years, ten years or waiting until the end of the deal which is 10 to 15 years. so this regime actually was giving up its timetable of the project, they haven't given up neither the vision nor the aspiration to acquire and for me to gain hegemony of the region. this is ideology.

how come lebanon, we have a lebanese government but the one who has to make the decision to go to war is hezbollah? the government is irrelevant. bashar al assad is dependent on iran and hezbollah. bad news. in yemen, they did the same with hezbollah. they armed the houthis since 2009 and when they felt confident, they went out from the county to take over, almost dominating -- the state

controlled by iran, this is the strategy. they are still ambitious, undermining the sunni regimes in the region. they acted ready to sacrifice. they were ready to pay for those elements before taking account of the economic situation inside iran. we don't agree. the second is about the israel-palestine conflict. first of all, what is the place of this? we still hear about the instability in the middle east is the result of the palestine conflict. you can't stabilize the middle east. it was ridiculous in the past, it's ridiculous today. what is the linkage between the uprising? the revolution in egypt --

what is the connection between the ongoing civil war? almost half a billion casualties. this is because of israel. the sectarian violence in iraq. there is a conflict between us and the palestinians and there are many misconceptions. does it cause a problem whether it is occupation since '67 or the reluctance to recognize our right to exist as a nation state with the jewish people. it has been proved many times, rejected in the last several years, otherwise talking about settlements and borders. why? in this case, just to get, not to give anything. let's talk about everything. when he closed the door in front of both secretary of state february 2014 and president obama march 2014, he wasn't

blamed. why? he's too weak to be accountable. the issue of accountability -- what is the most important value which is missing in the middle east is accountability. our neighbors are used to deny accountability. officially he is governing gaza but he is not accountable. hamas is accountable. he's not accountable for his people. they can't survive without us. going back to the economy. because of corruption, because of incompetence, because of coo of denial of accountability. so when he closed the door in front of president obama, she

should have been blamed. he should be accountable. in our days we try to make progress. i can tell you that we don't want to govern the palestinians. we're happy they enjoy political. there's a political institution, municipalities, they decided to be divided into two political entities. fine. what about the accountability for the economy, incompetence, cooperation? that's why they're depending on us, even in gaza they're depending on us. so when it comes to what to do with it as you don't want to govern them, we propose, let's make progress step by step from the bottom up. let's improve the economy. let's improve the competence to

governor, security, learn order, judicial system, whatever. two weak to be accountable. so it's an honest mistake. the kind of differences makes all strategy regarding the middle east as lon one. >> last question, we'll go to the audience. you know, you've had so much experience operationally, strategically, but most important for me, analytically. because i don't think that wise policy can be made without sound analysis. we get ourselves into all kind of trouble by seeing the world the way we want it to be rather than the way it is. israel is a relatively young country in its modern form. i mean, 68 years after our independe independence if you looked at the united states you would have

seen a fundamentally different country than the one exist today. neither our borders were agreed nor the character of our nation. now, i would argue to you that at 68, you can make the same argument, that neither the borders nor the state of israel nor perhaps the character, there's great disagreement among israelis, arab israelis. my question to you involves the impact of nonresolution of this problem. i don't know who, including in this administration, would continue to make the argument, that the key to middle east stability or u.s. credibility was an unresolved or the resolution of the israeli palestinian problem. i bought it at one point, things were different then. they're no longer that way. it's very important. but as an israeli, that's my question to you.

no resolution leads to what? >> i wish to solve the israeli, palestinian conflict. it's not going to be settled in my lifetime. and there are alternatives. i'm trying to avoid wishful thinking. it's a matter of alternatives. and let's imagine that we will not now deployed somalia in the west bank, i'm sure the first -- we would have face hamas in the west bank as we -- as it happened. armed with rockets, snipers in

je ruz lrusalem and so forth an forth. it's like it's a case in gaza. we dash in the west bank like it is in gaza. let's think about the kingdom in such a situation, can they survive it? so, as we try very hard, not talking about our history, we address positively all the politician proposal since '37. we try to make compromise. but, they rejected, very consistent. '37, '47, 2000, december of 2000 with president clinton proposal. rejected the -- and so far, it

was rejected and to negotiate when it was on the table. it's a matter of alternatives. we can manage. happy from this instability. it's a matter of alternative. as long as there's a situation, of course, we should enjoy the freedom population on the west bank to include u.s.a. i was in uniform when we were avo avoided to be deployed. then we went from the defense, defensive operation and we succeeded in eliminating the infrastructure, you know,

without it, not have survived, for sure. we make 80 to 90% of the job in television in the west bank, palestinians secured doing the utmost, 10-20%. so it's a matter of alternatives. yes, we're ready to make progress. we wanted to as i said to go from the bottom up step by step to improve the situation and even today, talking about the ordinary palestinian, we want them to live in dignity, to enjoy well being, and this is the case with most of them and if they complain, they complain because of cooperation and because of incompetence. most of them are -- manipulations of -- as they did,

unfortunately, most of the demonstration were against the palestinian not against israel. so it's a matter of alternative. we can manage and i believe that trying to push well-known solution. it's very clear. it's all our effort. it might be that we head along it. it might be, so let's allow us to deal with it and, especially by -- all the ideas of external intervention create negative incentive to come to the table to make progress, as long as you hear about french initiative or it might be u.s. initiative or

u.s. speech or bringing the issue to the national security council of the i.c.c. this is the way to escape the reality on the ground. and if it is the case in which we seek together, we make progress, we do cooperate, yes. but we can do even more. do not interrupt us. >> thank you. all right. questions. sandergerber. >> it is aaron, and thank you minister for joining us. last week vice president biden made a strong statement condemning the p.a. for not condemning the terrorism. as you know, they pay the terrorist pursuant to law in 2010. my question is: do you think biden knows that the p.a. pays the terrorist, if he does what is the point of acting the pa to condemn the terrorism when they're paying the terrorists

pursuant to law? >> it's not just about condemning the terrorism which is very important. yes, he succeeded in escaping any condemnation even in front of vice president after the matter of american citizen kneeled by the place which the vice president was sitting in tel aviv. by avoiding condemnation, encourages the terrorists to go on with the activities. it's a signal. but it start from education. isil the head of the intelligence in the peak of -- in august of 1995 they came by saying mr. prime minister, i have to warn you, this is strategic early warning, i don't see any sign of reconciliation

of palestinian side. he doesn't prepare his young generation for coexist tense with the jewish state and i can testify about the way that i educated my kids about our official education curriculum, preparing for peace, living together, side by side. and when i said it to prime minister, i didn't have to use my sofisticated intelligence. just have to open the palestinian textbooks. not the hamas textbooks, the palestinian authority textbooks. if you educate kids from kindergarten to hate the jews, to hate the israelis, to admire the hamas, to become -- you shouldn't be surprised at 15 years old, youngster, the

problem on this specific morning and late afternoon he mailed out jewish motto, so easy. and i claim from 1995 and when i'm asked, even here, what should be done, any dollar, any penny which is given to this palestinian should be conditioned by educational reform. this is the basic. then the out comes. payments for the prisoners and all the other issues, reluctance to condemn the terrorist, but it's too weak to be accountable as i mentioned, he should be held responsible. >> thanks. >> yes. over here. please identify yourself. >> thank you very much, rahim.

first, what is your opinion of kurdish forces in fight against isis? do you think it should be on them? and second question, if kurdish will be at stake how important is it for the the stability in the region? thank you very much. >> thank you for your question. if i have to think about any kind of situation, is syria as well as in iraq, we have two kurdish sectors in iraq and syria. the only way that we can live in the kind of federation there is no way to unify syria. talking about strategy to unify

syria to someone else leaving syria no chance. wishful thinking. and to talk about a kind of federation, we stand led by bashal, it's 30% of his former territory, that's it. we know the turks are not happy with it. >> we might think about in syria. . the problem is with the -- we have diish, al qaeda follow us survival elements.

so, first of all let's find a way to every kind of federation or whatever is also agreed to have this kind of federation and then fighting the other or whatev whatever. the problem is that so many contradictory regarding the situation and syria is an example. like aran, isbala, russia today is an intervention in syria. and even western, it should be a simple part settlement of the solution as they mentioned earlier. so they'll demonstrate the capability to fight.

they'll go support it. why not support as moderates in syria. . most will be ignored. western party decided to sit on the fence and they were defeated by them to the point that it started to get it. and then you have to settle this contradictory interest with turk turkey. . yes, there is a different need regarding syria but the idea to unify syria back will become as it was in the past, is wishful thinking. >> in the way back next to the camera, last row.

>> from voice america persian tv. sir, last week lloyd austin told senate foreign relation committee that iran is with the intention to achieve the ability to carry the atomic war head. and also prime minister said they asked the international community to enforce punitive measures against iran ballistic missile test. are you going to meet with the ashton carter defense secretary while staying here. what is that you're going to ask him regarding this? >> i'm not going to tell you what i'm going to ask, but generally speaking -- but generally speaking no doubt that at least citizens today one is a

version of arms. we have evidence that they deliver weapons to to the organizations in the region to isbala. deliver money. deliver weapons. advanced weapons and so forth. delivering weapons to tin yemen. . infrastructure in the last year. it's been exposed and even in other countries so there's one reason to sanction. the second is the missiles, the ballistic missiles test.

very provocative. believe they're not going to be hound because we shouldn't -- of the deal. the third reason is human rights issues. succeeded in the government and, yes, we hear that most of the regime, but succeeded to strengthen the governing in the last 30 years or so going back to the vo lugs of 1979. hanging in the marketplace is today. oppression, suppression, so if you're looking for reasons to sanction the regime, at lea.

>> just under the question similar to what my colleague asked about the kurds. in 2014 when prime minister became the first head of state to openly endorse an independent kurdi kurdishstan he said it would set as bull work. just can you elaborate more on that from a military perspective, how would israel benefit from an israel kurdistan. this u.s. led coalition against isis includes at least 60 nations. there doesn't seem to be any wrong for israel to play. >> why don't wau take one of the two questions. >> one of them. >> i want to see if we can get to some others, as well. >> okay. i'll take one of the questions, the first one. >> as i mentioned, the problem in the middle east regarding the

official native states it's a matter of to poll gra fi. wis ston church hill is secretary of colonies. -- i was looking at the boundaries of the newly created state and religion. straight lines looking to jordan as an example, very nice explanation for the state lines to the east. the ipc is lucky company pipeline to be defended on both sides certain ranges that was recommendation of the british officers and that's what it did. on each straight line, you can see believe it was two fingers so we believe looking to the future that to keep like i

mentioned in syria, might be any luck. might be in other countries this might be an option to allow a kind of stability. this is what counts. any iraq, in syria. we believe they should enjoy, the decision whether it will be independent state or not it should be considered regarding other considerations of -- internal consideration, external consideration. but this is a way to bring about stability for the region. that's why we do support it. >> back here on my left, i rick

rosen from camera, the committee for accuracy reporting in america. generally, given the lack of reason sill yags on the palestinian side that you mentioned from years back and the current situation in terms of insightment, why doesn't israel, to the best of its ability, close down the mechanisms by which that's conveyed, palestinian tv, disrupt social networks and so on. >> first of all, we do, but you know, in the time of information they can escape. they can over come it. just last weekend we closed media assets because they found a way to use another satellite channel, the french channel had been closed, so use other satellite channels, now we deal with these countries. the way to close it, but without

even satellite channels the internet is used, facebook, whatever. so it's quite difficult to close it. we do deal with it. it's another area of wall. we do not under estimate. it's quite challenging. >> yes, straight in the back. thank you. >> thank you. and i'm with the american hawanic institute. we heave heard about the good relationship between greece, cypress and israel and i was hoping you could speak to this regional partnership and what it means for u.s. security and the interest in the region? thank you. >> israel his strategic relations with many countries and religion to include our

countries on top of jordan and egypt, but not jordan, but egypt, i would say. and to the west, greece and cypress, we believe we are on the same platform regarding the challenges. and, of course, bearing in mind the potential exploitation of the te rainian, we do share a lot of economic interest, as well. that's why the relationship was so strong. i've been to greece recently and to cypress recently and my counterparts have been to israel and prime minister for greece and cypress recently, yes, there's a lot to be done regarding common interest between greece, cypress and israel. >> yes, way in the back.

>> good morning. don with center port man in the senate homeland security committee. during your remarks you talked about the mou and congress is currently negotiating the ndaa as well, this year. in light of the challenges in the middle east, what is the -- which -- what recommendations do you have for congress in helping secure the middle east, and particularly, our relationship with israel. >> my recommendation is not just for the congress, it's for administrati administration let's imagine that israel doesn't exist.

you can imagine how many might come for many countries, not just from syria and iraq and african countries and others to europe and in order to keep this island of stability it should be supported. it should be supported politically it should be supported security wise, not really a lot of money. but to compare to the expenses of as we do share information, as we do share experience, technologies, as i mentioned, so this island of stability should be supported. and we do enjoy the congress

support, so i don't have to recommend the congress. i have to recommend to other other division and beyond. >> i believe we can take one final question yes in the back, second row. -- actually, last row, i guess. >> my name is gordy from russian news agency. so mr. minister, do you have any information or evidence of transferring russian weapons from syria to hezbollah, there were some concerns about it. do share these concerns and also what can you see about act the con flix in syria with russians because there was some incidence as reported, thank you. israel has diplomatic relationship to russia since

1991. for those who try to compare the situation of the old cold war which is irrelevant. we do have common interest. we do argue certain interests and religion. first of all, regarding the coordination system between russia forces deployed in syria. and israel we do have hook line between tel aviv, the russian facility, in which we -- it is used in order to avoid any accidents, but we call taking safety precautions, so we don't have to coordinate our activities when we need to act and russians don't have to coordinate their activities. but we do have this kind of

coordination to avoid misunderstandings and accidents. very useful, actually, on both sides. on the russian side and israel side, we have russian speakers. you know, we have officers who speak russian. nevertheless, well, at least one incident in which russian aircraft incidentally crossed the border. we intercepted. ted with ha toll the russian headquarter that it was done and immediately this aircraft goes back from israel to sere ja. we're not happy of the fact that russian made assistance and

deliver to our enemies h. the problem is this weapon i sis stance syria or iran and then deliver to this kind of end users of course when it happens we provide our evidence. russian made it. we used like against us and when saw this assistance, it was not we didn't fail. we sold it to syria. . it's our responsibility to inspect it. that was the case when russia

made weapon assistance used by hamas. we provide evidence. so we had a way to clarify it -- we saw certain countries in the region. but end user is organization. we're not happy with it. and it should be settled. . but we don't have open channels to clarify. >> i have to conclude? >> yes. >> yes. >> i want to emphasize that israel is going to celebrate 68 years of independent coming may

and looking back not just 68 years of independence and even before and israel is a successful enterprise. too many elements oreck niezing the right to exist as nation to the jewish people. i mentioned the palestinians. claiming the same claim like, your honor, this is second islamic land. no room for jewish state. and against all odds, by all means, first of for the economy. we hope to explore the gas found

in the mediterranean as soon as possible. out come of our minds and our hearts. this is our well-known and we succeeded in using the abilities, disadvantages to becomeadvantages. in the '60s we fought. today we don't have to fight for water. we supply water. gaza, why, because we used our sophisticated technology to develop the facilities, taking

disadvantages to advantages. this is the case in the military when it comes to quantity we are inferior. the size of the country, the number of the cities and population, the number offer assistance. but we've succeeded in developing and embracing technologies by highly motivated, and highly educated soldiers. >> hopefully we'll enjoy the rest of this year, 16 i. that's 16 israel. developed in the industry defense industries with israeli

minds and hearts, knowledge and spirit. the helmet or whatever. and we have a israeli pile up in the cockpit, highly motivated, highly educated. and we believe that sharing our advantages with our neighbors. we try very hard. the palestinian enjoy our economy, i mentioned it. the other countries will be able to enjoy. the countries share with us enjoying our advantages. they're ready to share. but, no doubt that looking around from our country to the entire middle east, standing is an example, which i do it every couple of months, looking to the east, unfortunately, the color which is dominating is black and

gray, smoke, fire. and our side and we are ready to share it, actually, we support the villages across the border, providing them unity and support. as we jews we cannot avoid it. we can't ignore it, food, blankets in the winter, oil, all the needs. so we're ready to share. . we should get rid of this reluctance of recognizing our right to exist as a nation state of the jewish people and disregard, like minded people should not be manipulated and deceived by slogans, occupation. the only christian community, which is going in the middle east today is israeli arab community and we're part of it.

that's not the case in syria or iraq. and other countries, so so this kind of understanding of our unique situation in which like manipulated by false propaganda and learned so forth. we should over come it. otherwise, israel will be delegd dele -- sanctions, all these kind of weapons as alternative ready to conventional type weapons, nonconventional type weapons. it's news weapons is the result of our success to deal is the conventional type of warfare. so we need this kind of understanding. we do need this kind of, at

least, moral support and that's what i'm asking here in washington. thank you. [ applause ] >> i was going to ask you please join me in thanking the minister for incredibly insightful and fascinating presentation. but, thank you again. >> thank you. >> thank you for everybody. >> thank you for coming. [ applause ] >> thank you. president obama announced his pick to fill justice's seat on theup