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BY BENJAMIN KABAK

In print | April 17, 2003

Although former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres received a Nobel Prize for his attempts to achieve peace in Israel, he spoke in favor of the United States’ military action in the Middle East during a presentation at the University of Pennsylvania last Sunday.

"Military action in Iraq creates an opportunity that we should not miss," he said, as he addressed a crowd of approximately 800 at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in University City.

Peres has been a part of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, since 1959 and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon until October. He shared the Nobel Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat in 1994 for their effort to reach a peace agreement in Israel. Peres has served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister. He was the prime minister after the assassination of Rabin in November of 1994. Peres came to speak in Philadelphia as part of a growing organization called Caravan for Democracy.

Founded last October as a joint venture between the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and Media Watch International, Caravan for Democracy has hosted 50 events on college campuses across the country. Its purpose is to feature Israeli leaders who explain the political situation in Israel and the Middle East. The organization’s slogan summarizes its political agenda: “Israel and America: Sharing Hopes; Sharing Values.”

JNF President Ronald Lauder opened Sunday’s presentation by explaining the goal behind Caravan for Democracy. “We have seen recently a great deal of misinformed discussions and a lot of half-truths and lies about Israel,” he said. “It is important for students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to hear from various leaders about what Israel stands for.”

According to Lauder, Caravan for Democracy encourages student activism in addition to providing an education in international affairs. “We want you to be able to talk to people who are telling lies about Israel and tell them what you know,” he said.

After Lauder introduced Peres, the former prime minister took the stage to a standing ovation. His speech lasted approximately five minutes as he addressed the challenges facing the international community and the need for modernization. “We are constantly dealing with a group of fanatics who are afraid that modernity will destroy tradition,” he said. “There is no need to have the old-fashioned borders.”

During his speech, Peres declared his support for America’s current defense policy. “The U.S. was attacked,” he said. “It’s not that the U.S. has attacked the terrorists. The U.S. went to war in order to defend the security of its people.”

Calling Saddam Hussein “one of the greatest killers of our time,” Peres said that it was time for the Iraqis to accept the modern age. “When you realize what sparked the war, it was people who thought that modern life and high-tech would destroy their own tradition,” he said. “The Iraqi people will taste freedom and will taste the future thanks to the efforts of America and its allies.”

Peres went so far as to say that it was of no consequence whether or not the United States found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Rather, he said that Saddam Hussein’s personality provided the impetus for war. “Hussein has shown that he has the will and personnel to produce weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “He has shown that he will use them. What does it matter if you find them?”

Furthermore, Peres called for the United States to use modernity to secure the end of global terrorism. “Without modernity, we cannot move ahead in the world where flying is dangerous and living on the 20th floor is a risk,” he said.

After his speech, Peres spent the remainder of the hour fielding questions from the audience members. Most questions focused on the future of the relationship between Israel and the Palestine. “You cannot unmake history,” he said. “The Palestinians rejected the United Nations’ resolutions; the Israelis accepted it. They wanted to destroy us. We had to fight alone.”

In his strongest anti-Palestinian statement, Peres declared that he would not accept a Palestinian state that would compromise the current borders of Israel. “We’re against a Palestinian state,” he said. “We’re against the partition of the land.”

In closing, Peres addressed the supremacy of the United States’ foreign policy and spoke against what he termed “the sickness of anti-Semitism.”

“I wish that the Arab nations would unite and harmonize their behavior with that of the United States,” he said.

Throughout the hour of questions, no student attempted to challenge Peres on any of his pro-Israel or pro-war statements.

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