AIPAC has posted the transcripts from its 2006 Policy Conference, including Vice-President Dick Cheney’s historic address (reprinted as this week’s Page One feature at The Jewish Press) and speeches by Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu, among many others.
UN Ambassador John Bolton’s address was particularly eloquent, particularly with respect to the necessity of the Security Council to deal with Iran under the UN Charter:
Forgive my moment of facetiousness when dealing with a matter literally of life and death, but if the pursuit of nuclear weapons by a state with a leader who calls for another to be "wiped off the map" is not considered a threat to international peace and security, I daresay one must ask — what is?
Bolton concluded his address with these words:
I sometimes find it an odd question because to me the answer is so strikingly simple, but I have been asked before why I remain so strongly committed to the protection, preservation and prosperity of Israel. My answer is straightforward: unlike Mr. Ahmadinejad, I know my history.
Whether from school, or more poignantly and heart-breakingly, from the stories of survivors of the Holocaust, I know what can happen when we turn a blind eye to tyranny, whether it manifests itself as fascism or, in this case, as totalitarianism. Many of you here in this room are responsible for helping me, indeed all Americans, to understand this undeniable truth.
But know that I will do what I can to continue to fight anti-Semitism in whatever form it takes, and wherever it happens, including at the United Nations. As it turns out, and as you well know, my current position lends itself well to such a fight.
Reading the transcript of a panel discussion among Israeli Security Advisor Giora Eiland, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), and Richard Perle, moderated by Bill Kristol, I was struck by the repeated references to AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr’s speech. Kristol called it “terrific,” Harman called it “amazing,” and Eiland called it “marvelous.” Indeed it is. Here it is, worth reading in its entirety.
I don’t think one can read Olmert’s pedestrian remarks and compare them to Netanyahu’s statement of strategy and vision without increased concern about the choice Israel appears ready to make, but Cheney, Bolton and Kohr’s speeches are remarkable addresses, and in combination provide a sense that both the situation and the stakes are understood.