Three thousand years ago, the
people of Israel journeyed from slavery in Egypt to
independence in the land of Israel. The Bible tells us
that on their voyage to liberty they made a crucial stop
and received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.
As the General Assembly gathers this year, the
Jewish people recall that historic journey by marking
the festival of Sukkot. And every year, at this time, our
people remember that the long march to freedom
requires the acceptance of humanity’s basic values.
For 60 years, since the rebirth of our State in our
ancient homeland, with Jerusalem at its heart, we have
not lost sight of this principle. The core values of
tolerance, coexistence and peace that lie at the heart of
every democracy must be protected within societies
and promoted between them. This is the calling of our
generation.
The conflict in our region is driven by those who
reject these core values those who seek power
without responsibility, those whose aim is not to
realize their own rights but to deny those rights for
others. At its heart, this is a conflict not about territory,
but about values.
There is, of course, a territorial dimension to our
dispute. We know this and, as we have proven in the
past, we are prepared for the territorial compromise
that lasting peace entails. But we also know, especially
after withdrawing from Lebanon and Gaza, that
territorial withdrawal by itself will not bring peace
unless we address the core clash of values that lies
beneath the conflict.
Israel may be on the front lines of this battle, but
it is not our fight alone. This is a global battle. The
notion that this battle is a local one, limited to isolated
regions, collapsed in this city with the twin towers on a
September morning six years ago. Today, it is clear that
the extremists are engaged in a bloody war against
civilians and communities, against hearts and minds, in
every corner of the world.
And it is clear, too, that the Middle East conflict
is not the cause of this global extremist agenda, but a
consequence of it. Yes, it is up to the parties in the
Middle East to settle their political conflict, and Israel,
for its part, desires to do so. But for success to be
genuine and lasting, you, the nations of the world, need
to be partners in a shared global struggle against the
extremism and terror that feed conflict, for your sake,
not just for ours.
It is in this spirit that I would like to speak today
about resolving our particular conflict, but also about
the wider battle being waged today the battle that
affects us all. This battle is global, not just because it
targets civilians everywhere, but also because the
extremists have taken aim at the fundamental pillars of
every modern society namely, democracy, tolerance
and education. These are the new battlefields of the
twenty-first century, and it is in these arenas, more than
any other, that the future of our world will be decided.
I believe in democracy. I believe in its
extraordinary power to produce free and peaceful
societies founded on respect for human rights.
Democracy is a profound ideal, but it is also a
vulnerable one.
Today, in different parts of the world, extremists,
who are opposed to the very ideals of democracy, are
entering the democratic process, not to abandon their
violent agenda but to advance it. As a spokesman for
Al-Qaida recently declared, “We will use your
democracy to destroy your democracy”. This should be
a wake-up call for all of us.
It is time to reclaim democracy, and this begins
by rejecting those who abuse it. Genuine democracy is
about values before it is about voting. No true
democracy on Earth allows armed militia or groups
with racist or violent agendas to participate in
elections. But some demonstrate a troubling double
standard. There are some who insist on high standards
in their own country but forget them when they look
abroad. Violent extremists who could never run for
office at home are treated as legitimate politicians
when elected elsewhere. As a result, we empower those
who use democratic means to advance anti-democratic
ends. And we strengthen the forces of those who not
only undermine their societies but also threaten our
own.
Today, from this podium, I call on the
international community to adopt at the global level
what democracies apply at the national one: a universal
set of standards for participation in genuine democratic
elections. We need a universal democratic code that
requires that all those seeking the legitimacy of the
democratic process earn it by respecting such
principles as State monopoly over the lawful use of
force, the rejection of racism and violence and the
protection of the rights of others.
The goal of such a universal code is not to dictate
our values or to stifle legitimate voices with which we
may disagree. Its goal is to protect core democratic
values from those determined to use the democratic
system against itself; and to make clear that
participation in the democratic process is not just a
right it is also a responsibility.
I know that the temptation to engage with
extremists can be strong. It may seem to promise
stability and quiet. We may hope that by feeding the
beast we can gradually tame it. As free societies, we
pride ourselves, rightly, on our respect for difference
and diversity. But we do a disservice to diversity when,
in its name, we tolerate the intolerant.
Bitter experience has shown that buying off
extremists is a short-term fix for which we will pay
dearly in the long run. Instead, groups such as Hamas
and Hizbullah must be presented with a clear choice
between the path of violence and the path of
legitimacy. They cannot have both. And it is this same
stark choice that must be presented to the radical
regime in Iran.
No responsible State disagrees that Iran is the
most prominent sponsor of terrorism. It is a major
source of instability and conflict in Iraq, Lebanon,
Palestine and across the entire Middle East; and it is
the enemy of Arab-Israeli coexistence. No one
disagrees that Iran denies the Holocaust and speaks
openly of its desire to wipe a Member State mine
off the map. And no one disagrees that, in violation of
Security Council resolutions, it is actively pursuing the
means to achieve this end.
But there are still those who, in the name of
consensus and engagement, continue to obstruct the
urgent steps that are needed to bring Iran’s sinister
ambitions to a halt. Too many see the danger, but they
walk idly by, hoping that someone else will take care
of it. What is the value, we have to ask, of an
organization which is unable to take effective action in
the face of a direct assault on the very principles it was
founded to protect?
It is time for the United Nations, and the States of
the world, to live up to their promise of never again, to
say enough is enough, to act now and to defend their
basic values. It is also time to see this same kind of
moral conviction in the Human Rights Council, so that
it can become a shield for the victims of human rights,
not a weapon for its abusers.
Israel has never tried to avoid genuine discussion
of its human rights record. But so long as the Council
maintains its wildly disproportionate focus on Israel, it
weakens the moral voice of the United Nations, and the
price of this blindness is paid by the victims of human
rights atrocities in Darfur and Myanmar and
throughout the world.
There is no more accurate forecast for the future
of a society than the lessons we teach our children.
Unfortunately, in our region, we see children’s
television programmes in which Mickey Mouse
puppets teach the glory of being a suicide bomber and
a seven-year old girl sings of her dreams of blood and
battle. Religion, rather than being a source of hope and
spiritual healing, is abused as a call to arms, as God is
dragged once again onto the field of battle.
It is time to reclaim religion from those who have
made it a weapon rather than a shelter. It is time to
reclaim education from those who use it as a tool of
hate rather than an opportunity. As always, the most
powerful form of education, and the hardest, is to teach
by example. We cannot expect our younger generation
to value what we are not prepared ourselves to protect
and pay a price for. And there is a price to pay. From
the leader who has to withstand public pressures. From
the businessman who has to forgo economic
opportunity. From the teacher and spiritual guide who
must find the inner strength to teach truth and tolerance
in a climate of extremism and hostility. At all levels of
society, there is a price to be paid. But if we do not pay
it today, we, and those who follow us, will face a far
greater bill tomorrow.
These thoughts are in my mind as we seek, today,
to advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian
reconciliation. Reconciliation is not about deciding
who was right or who was wrong in the past; it is about
sharing a common vision and a common responsibility
for the future. In the last months, Prime Minister
Olmert and President Abbas have been engaged in a
sincere and genuine effort to reach the widest possible
common ground on political understandings. There is
no substitute for the bilateral process. Failure is not an
option, but it is for the parties themselves to define
success. The foundation for true peace lies in the vision
of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side
in peace and security. The world shares this vision, but
it is also important that it clearly embrace the two core
principles that emerge from it.
The first of these principles is: two States, two
homelands. Just as Israel is homeland to the Jewish
people, so Palestine will be established as the
homeland and the national answer for the Palestinian
people, including the refugees.
The second is: living side by side in peace and
security. Just as a viable and prosperous Palestine in
the West Bank and Gaza is an Israeli interest, so must a
secure Israel be a Palestinian interest. The world
cannot afford another terror State.
Guided by these principles, the parties can define
a common border and turn the two-State vision from a
dream into reality. To succeed, we must set our sights
on a brighter future, while responding to the challenges
of the present and learning the lessons of the past. As
we make progress on concrete political understandings,
it is just as important to change the reality on the
ground to show Palestinians and Israelis that the
promise of peace exists in practice, not just on paper.
In recent months, Israel has taken tangible
measures to create a better environment, and we are
ready to do more. We know that Palestinian life is full
of day-to-day hardship. We know also, and only too
well, the burden of terror that Israelis bear and of our
primary obligation to their security. Together, we can
change this reality; we do not need to submit to it.
We are not naive. We can see the difficulties
ahead and the enemies of peace that stand in our way.
But practical progress is possible in those areas where
there is an effective Palestinian Government that
accepts the Quartet’s principles and implements,
alongside Israel, the existing Road Map obligations.
As the parties take the risks for peace, we look to
the international community and the Arab and Muslim
world to offer support, not to stipulate conditions. This
support comes in many forms. It comes through
economic and political assistance to the new
Palestinian Government committed to coexistence and
seeking to build the foundations of a peaceful and
prosperous State. It comes through the clear
endorsement of any political understandings reached
between the parties. It comes through enhancing and
deepening regional ties and cooperation between the
Arab world and Israel, while in parallel we advance
towards Israeli-Palestinian peace. And, finally, it
comes by confronting those determined to prevent us
from succeeding.
We must stand up to those who have no respect
for human life or human liberty, those who hold
captive soldiers - Gilad Shalit, Udi Goldwasser and
Eldad Regev - whose families are with us today and
whose pain remains always in our hearts.
We must stand up to those who, after we
withdrew from Gaza to give peace a chance, chose not
to build but to destroy and who choose, on a daily
basis, to target Israeli homes and kindergartens with
their missiles.
And we must stand up to those who see
democracy as a tool to advance hate, who see tolerance
as a one-way street and who see education as a means
of poisoning the minds of the next generation.
I believe that, despite all the obstacles, there is a
new moment of opportunity and an alliance of interest
that favours peace. Time is of the essence. We owe it to
ourselves and to our children to find both the courage
and the wisdom to make the right choices in the right
way.
On this festival of Sukkot, Jews commemorate
the journey from slavery to freedom by leaving their
homes to live in fragile huts, like the shelters in which
our ancestors lived on their way to the Promised Land.
For 3,000 years, these temporary huts, open to the
elements, have been a reminder that stability and
security are ensured not only by the structures that we
build but also by the values that we share. Perhaps it is
for this reason that the Sukkah, this fragile shelter, has
become the Jewish symbol of peace.
We turn to Jerusalem and say in our prayers every
day: Spread over us the canopy of your peace. May it
be in our days, and for all nations.