Israeli National Day Reception

Shalom. Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. I'm very happy to be with you all this evening and to have the opportunity to celebrate Yom Ha-Atzma'ut with so many fellow friends of Israel. (Laughter and applause.)

My own association with Israel is a personal one as well as a professional one, and it goes back many years. As you heard, I was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, and I grew up in a neighborhood which now would be called multicultural. (Laughter.) Multicultural is not a word we knew in the Bronx. (Laughter.) It was my neighborhood. (Laughter.) And people would ask me over the years, "Well, what was it like growing up as a minority?" I said, "Who knew? We all were minorities back in the Bronx." (Laughter.)

I was privileged to grow up in a neighborhood with blacks, Puerto Ricans, people from all around the world, and a very large segment of the population was Jewish. Kaiserman's Bakery was on one corner, Teitelbaum's Drug Store was on another corner, the chicken market was just around the corner. Jay Sickser was the name of a man who became a very close friend of mine, a Russian Jew who came to this country to avoid disaster, and he made a home here and he gave me my first job as a young man at age 14 when I walked past his store one afternoon. And he said, "Mmm, Knabe, come here." And I worked with him for the next eight years, and over those years I picked up quite a bit of Yiddish. (Laughter.) And I have dined out on those few words over the last 50 years. (Laughter and applause.)

My next door neighbor, the Klein family, they had the first television in our apartment building in New York, and I still remember the whole apartment building gathering in their home in the evenings to watch Milton Berle or Molly Goldberg, for those of you old enough to remember those shows.

It was wonderful, but I got to know and appreciate Jewish life, Jewish culture. And I was about 11 years old in 1948, in May of that year, an impressionable young 11-year-old man, when the State of Israel was brought into existence. And I knew not only by listening to it on the radio, the news as it came over, and seeing it in the newspapers, I could see it in the eyes of my Jewish neighbors and my Jewish friends and my Jewish classmates what the State of Israel meant to them and to their families and what they thought it meant to the world.

A new State of Israel meant new hope after a time of unspeakable tragedy after the Holocaust. Israel meant dignity for Jews everywhere after centuries of powerlessness and persecution. That moment in May of 1948 when David Ben-Gurion read the Declaration of Independence to the whole world over the radio was one of the most moving moments in the 20th century for my Jewish friends, and so it was for much of the world

Israel seemed a modern miracle, an ancient people restored to their homeland, against the historical odds, after more than 1,800 years of exile and dispersion.

And Israel flourished as a young state. Its culture unfurled as Jews from dozens of countries around the world came, came back, came together, and combined to build a new Jewish society in an ancient homeland.

The economy grew from hard work. I remember many of my neighbors going home to Israel to go to the kibbutz. It grew from hard work, but it also grew from Israel's achievement in science and technology, which accumulated in stark disproportion to its small population.

And always, always, Israel's leaders sought peace. No matter the dangers, no matter the wars that had to be fought, no matter the difficulties that were ahead, always, always, Israel's leaders were looking for peace, no matter the seeming futility of the effort in any particular year.

Israel's experience these past 56 years bears important lessons for the challenges we face today. One of those lessons, of course, is to never give up on the pursuit of what you know to be right. But another of those lessons is about democracy. When you read Israel's Declaration of Independence, you cannot help but be struck by its clarion call for equality and freedom, the hallmarks of liberal democracy.

We know that democracy isn't easily achieved and we also know that there was little in the personal history of Israel's founding leaders to explain how Israel became such a thriving democracy. Nearly all of these leaders were born and raised in countries or empires that weren't democratic.

So where did this burning desire for democracy come from? It came mostly from their determination to give Israel a political system that worked, a political system on which to build a brighter future for all who would come to this land and who would be born in this land.

They saw in the British and the American examples that democracy worked, and today Israel's democracy works. This proves that no matter how hard it is to create democracy where it has never before existed, an enlightened leadership with political willpower and with support from other democracies can make a huge difference. It can be done. Democracy can be created among any people who have the desire to do so, the will to do so, and understand the importance of doing so. It can be done. Israel has proven that it can be done. (Applause.)

The Israeli experience proves something else of equal importance. Many people in the world want to become modern and prosperous, but they fear that they'll have to give up their traditions, their ancient cultures, to do it. It's not so. Over the past few decades, many nations in the world have done so, especially in the Pacific Rim, have shown in these areas of the world how to be modern and prosperous can be achieved on your own cultural terms. So has Israel, from its very beginnings.

An illustration is at hand as we celebrate Yom Ha-Atzma'ut. On what date is this holiday established? April 27th? Mmm, no. (Laughter.) This holiday falls every year on the 5th of Iyar, hay Iyar. (Applause.) So you have your ancient traditions blending with the modern age.

Israelis celebrate this modern birthday according to the ancient calendar of the Jewish people. Israel is modern and prosperous, but on its own cultural terms. Again, it can be done. Israel has proven that it can be done.

Every year we celebrate this day and every year the celebration feels a little incomplete. It will feel that way until the people of Israel have what they want most for themselves and most for their children and most for their neighbors: peace, real peace, lasting peace, peace forever. (Applause.)

This, too, can be done. It's not easy, but I know to the depth of my heart that this, too, can be achieved. I know how frustrating achieving peace can be. With all the things that I work on in the course of my day, nothing is more demanding, nothing requires more of me. But however difficult it is, no matter how many disappointments we must bear, we must never, never, ever abandon the quest for peace, the peace that Israel needs, the peace that the region needs, the peace that the world needs. We must never abandon our quest. President Bush has not abandoned that quest and he never will. (Applause.)

The President is as committed now as ever to achieving the vision he laid out to the world in June of 2002, the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace. The road ahead is difficult. We have looked at various plans. We know that ultimately the parties themselves must mutually agree on final settlement issues. We believe that the plan that Prime Minister Sharon has put forward gives us a new opportunity, a new opportunity by removing some settlements, but a new opportunity that has to be responded to by the other side in bringing an end to terror and violence and putting in place systems that can take advantage of this new opportunity. (Applause.) A new opportunity that rests on the simple premise that there are new realities on the ground that have to be accommodated and dealt with, and this is the time for both sides, and all of the neighbors and the international community, to come together to assist in this process. And we are very, very pleased to have played a part in the new initiative that the Prime Minister has put forward.

You know, as the Ambassador said earlier, Israel has no better friend among the nations of the world than the United States of America. (Applause.) And as you also know, Israel has no better friend, no better friend for Israel and for peace, than President George Bush. (Applause.)

For 56 years it has always been that way, through the presidencies and over the years. America was the first to recognize the infant state of Israel, America is the first always to defend Israel at international councils, and America will be the first to toast Israel and all of its neighbors when, at last, there is a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East. (Applause.) Let us pray that it comes soon, that that day is not too far off.

So today we count 56 years of Israel's independence. Fifty-six. Seven times eight. Fifty-six. And even those of us who aren't experts in gematria, in rabbinic numerology -- (laughter) -- seven times eight is 56. We know that seven stands for the Sabbath day, a day of introspection, a day of spiritual renewal. And eight stands for eight days of circumcision, a symbol of new life, new hope, new possibilities. (Applause.) So seven times eight makes for a powerful number: it's renewal times hope. Let us hope it is a sign for better times to come for everyone in the Middle East. (Applause.)

Israel and the entire Middle East certainly need better times, need peace. Of that there can be no doubt. There has been too much sadness, too much sacrifice, too much blood -- all for much too long. In the face of that sadness, however, we must not lose hope in a better future. Israelis have never lost hope. Going from sadness of the past to the promise of the future is always a difficult journey. Going from sadness to celebration, however, also raises our hopes that the sacrifices of the past will diminish and the sacrifices of today will be gone, and liberty will grow in the coming future and peace will grow in the coming future, in Israel, in the entire Middle East and throughout the world.

Let our prayer for this Independence Day, once again, be peace, peace, peace for all. Thank you so very much, and God bless you.

(Applause.)