Jeffrey Goldberg and David Wolpe held an excellent colloquy today at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, on topics ranging from Cuba and Iran, to J-Street, AIPAC and the ZOA, to Obama and Middle East peace.
The first video below is Goldberg’s interesting one-word response (followed by his even more interesting four-minute explication) to Rabbi Wolpe’s suggestion Iran might have seen itself surrounded by American troops, saw places with nuclear weapons (like North Korea) get billions in aid while places without them (like Iraq) get invaded, and that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear bombs might thus be “defensive and frightened, not offensive and evil.”
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Goldberg gave an equally interesting response to a question from the audience about whether Iran really cares about the Palestinians — which led to a wider reflection on the alleged linkage between Israeli-Palestinian peace and the other issues in the Middle East:
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
This is the second time Goldberg has visited Sinai Temple for a colloquy with Rabbi Wolpe. Looking back at the first time (February 2008), it seems prophetic: see “Goldberg, Wieseltier, and Zechariah on Obama.”