[inaudible conversations] this is really wonderful. I really enjoyed it. Good job. You look great. Welcome to the club. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] the minute we take a quick picture . No, not at all. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i have a good friend of mine who finds out here. Oh, thats wonderful. [inaudible conversations] thank you for serving our country. Youre welcome. Thank you. I want to thank you for everything you have done. Thank you i get a lot of questions and theres 80 Million People out there. So every time i look at the crowd, 25 probably had something to do with that. An important lesson youve done in charge of your own health care, and you have done that. Thank you. Thank you. It is good to see you, sir. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] youre watching cspan2 with politics and public affairs, weekdays featuring live coverage on the u. S. Senate. On weeknights watch key Public Policy events and the latest nonfiction authors and books. You can get our schedules at her our website, you can join in the conversation on social media websites. Next on booktv, a discussion with Scott Anderson. The author of the making of the modern middle east. And ari shavit in his book, my Promised Land. Good evening, everyone. It is drying up and it is getting nice outside. This is going to be a very interesting to authors and youll hear from tonight. Can you hear me in the back . Thank you. Scott anderson and ari shavit both wrote a book about the middle east. And we are going to hear from scott and also from ari shavit. The more things change, the more they remain almost exactly the same. And so im i am going to introduce both of the authors tonight and then each will. Ryan about 10 minutes. And i will moderate a conversation with them and take questions from the audience. So write down your questions. When you ask them, just directed to the two of them and that will be fine. If you want to address it to one of them, then just let us know. Let me first introduce ari shavit. He is the author of my Promised Land the triumph and tragedy of israel and a commentator in one of the most powerful voices in his really thought today and he started off as a paratrooper and ended up studying philosophy is a major and that is what living in israel does. He has won the 2013 book award in his great grandfather came to israel at the end of the 19th century and he was a british lawyer. You will hear him speak with the inflection with his voice, and he is a founding father and his father was a chemist who worked on building the alleged nuclear program. From his perch in his corner of the world, he has moved like many of us, i know like me, to the Political Center from the left. He asks in his book, is there anyone to talk to as he goes through the issues. And as a friend of mine says, we have a Beautiful House in a beautiful neighborhood. My Promised Land the triumph and tragedy of israel is about his personal and family story in the history. The end of the book is his prophecy and that is also what i will ask him to spend time talking about, his vision of where he sees israel in the future. And our other speaker is Scott Anderson and his book, or come in to see, imperial and the making of the modern middle east is fascinating. The story not only of mr. Laurence, which you already know, but he was a complicated man whose knowledge of military history and the military was unprecedented for the time. Scott anderson grew up in east asia and his father worked in agriculture as an advisor for the American Government and he is a novelist and war correspondent in the places that he has corresponded from include sudan and Northern Ireland and i went online to see a list of places that the state department that you shouldnt go. And those are the places you shouldnt go. [laughter] the movie triage with Colin Farrell is based upon his novel and richard gere and his story was based on his work in bosnia. But what you dont know and what you wont read is that he is part owner of the half king bar. He owns that with sebastian jan, its in chelsea on 23rd and 10th, which is the hottest area of new york and asked him i asked him how long ago he opened it and he said 14 years. Like my grandfather used to say, it is much better to be lucky than smart. [laughter] i would like to introduce our first speaker, ari shavit. [applause] [applause] thank you very much. It is really a pleasure to be here and it was worth writing the book and i have been several times in florida and from the moment i landed, i was only thinking about this on the plane and its something warm and sensual, which i recognize and i also love. So im looking forward to getting to know the city. But i know that i already like it very much. And so why did i write my Promised Land the triumph and tragedy of israel . And there have been so many books written about israel. Very good books. Biographies, histories, and academics. And my feeling was that for a long time that there has not been a book written that was a personal and deep and soulsearching is really book, trying to understand what this nation is about. Where is that coming from, and where is it going . And i think thats no accident. And i think that the reason this book has not been written is because we israelis have lost our narrative. Not only we have lost the narrative, but they people caring about israel and criticizing israel and the people he israel lost a narrative. We are bogged down to the details to the attention of the events and we are in a sense of corruption with tribalism and hate and all the venom that goes along with the discussion that all of us have lost sight of the big picture. My book deals with history, but it is not a history book. It deals with politics, but its not a political book. In my book has Strategic Insights and it deals with the economy and social matters, but i am no sociologist and no strategists were general. But a thought needs to be done to write a story and it brings down everything that we are dealing with back to the human level, enabling us all to have a fresh look so that we have a better understanding that is both reasonable and realistic and also more fair. I think that this is either that israel can do no wrong or israel can do no right and it is ridiculous. It is flawed intellectually and morally as well. And in a sense, i wanted to write a book that takes israel the cliche and makes it into a real entity. A book that enables one to love israel again with a realistic and moral way and so what did i do . I have begun with the arrival of my greatgrandfather in april of 1897, coming from london and i basically asked myself why did he come . Eyelids and prosperous comfortable victorian london where he was a selfmade lawyer. Especially in a desolate and remote wasteland how thin was at the time. And my conclusion, is that there were three striking features of his journey there. There were two Brilliant Ideas there that were shared with his friend and other founders as well. And what did they understand . What was so remarkable about this . Well, in 1897, these remarkable jews and individuals realized that the 1940s are going to happen and they tried to preempt it. They did not know that there would be an off switch. They did not know. But they realized that europe was going mad against the jewish population. And so when you think about their insight, we saw a problem that was decades away. And they tried to create a dramatic revolution that one can imagine of transferring it from one land to another, creating a nation, reviving language, all to save the people there in an attempt to save the jewish people in danger. The partially succeeded. The real problem is that they were too late and they can save all of the europeans. But their endeavor was a remarkable one. Their other insight was relevant with individuals today. And they realized that postghetto and postreligious judaism is at stake. The brilliant jewish idea that worked was to live with an intimate relationship with regard to the walls laws of the ghetto. And once these two great areas were weakening, the relationship with god changed and the rules of the ghettos failed and the jewish existence, nonorthodox existence became in danger. And they did not know there would be this kind of situation, but they tried to transit. There is a need for a jewish homeland in these two ways, these motivations, it brought my greatgrandfather to the land and it was remarkable. And they created a great and successful nation that needed to be established and how had to be established. In many ways it was ingenious. But there was a flaw. And the thought was that my greatgrandfather and his peers and his colleagues did not see that there was another people there. They did not see the half million palestinians and i am a zionist and i believe in our right to the ancient homeland and this is no colonial project. In the need of my greatgrandfather in that land was so deep and that line is that began from that very first moment when he and his friends set foot in palestine, that oneness is what you see is two pillars of israeli existence. On one hand, the billions and the need to create that nation and on the other hand, what is built into the project. It is not only about sentiments, it is not just about something that happened yesterday and tomorrow. The conflict is built in because of the tragic flaw that is there from the very beginning. And so fastforward. I go from all of the developments by telling the dramatic and Amazing Stories of individuals and the great drama that arrived in every generation. And so what we see today, my last chapter, which i like very much, is a journey that i am taking in the footsteps of my greatgrandfather. And i go throughout the country and look at what was achieved and what did this create and so what i see is on the one hand a nation that is threatened like no other nation is threatened. And i plead and i ask all the critics of israel and its government and its policies who have a lot of justified criticism always remember the context of the existence of that country and our nation and we are intimidated because many do not accept the existence of a jewish state and they are intimidated because many arabs have a problem with having a nonarab state in that region and they were intimidated because many palestinians did not acknowledge that we have a right to be here. We have many internal threats, so its not only iran that is talked about, which is a major threat for the palestinian issue, but there are elements that are basically part of the israeli condition. And so with this and within that situation, that semitragic situation and not endangered nation, we have a multiple viable society and there is something to be very proud of what was achieved there. And we have this state and society. And what was achieved is a robust Vital Society and one that i know. It is vital in so many ways. This includes the culture and we have more babies than any other country and tel aviv is one of the sexy cities sexiest cities in the world. It is a passionate and sensual city. And so when you think of the people that survive before or after the holocaust, some of them, many of them who are the ultimate victims of europe in the 20th century who did not become suicide bombers and to did not go into a kind of violent revenge and did not adopt it as their way of life, but rather turned life into their life, they turned a celebration of life into their greatest victory and that is what we see. This is what makes israel so unique. Because it is a nation on the edge and a people that lives dangerously. In this life did not bring about pessimism on the country. It is one of the most amazing spectacles of life. When you see the people that have come from nice and are surrounded by vast, celebrating life in such an intensive way. There is much to be admired. And i am very proud to be one of the nation that is so criticized and so very that it brings about such harsh feelings were so many people. My one hope is we would bring this in every way needed and we will see a and i do hope that that is result will be creating a new kind of conversation that is loving and caring and critical and moral and realistic and i think you very much. [applause] [applause] our next speaker is the author of maker of the modern needs. It is Scott Anderson. [applause] thank you so much. I have been around the world and covering more for about 25 years. And from my time in the middle east, very early on, i discovered that whenever i had a serious conversation about the problems of the region, invariably this is part of what was imposed on the region in world war i. And it was always on my mind to explore this period of history. The desire was piqued further by knowing that once played a central role in that time. I saw him as a kid and i was very enamored of him. And i knew there was a great deal of controversy over what was true and what was a legend. And this includes who was exploring this period of history. And what do you say that his new and there have been 70 or 80 biographies written on him. Three movies, one considered a classic. And the answer came to me after the central romantic riddle of lines, which is essentially how did he do it . Including without a single day of military training and how to back i go off to this, not just a rebel, but a muslim on that level. And the answer came to me. Obviously it was a touch of genius. And it really came down to that no one was really paying much attention. This was a time during world war i for the british and the french and their treasure is focus on the front. And this is part of going to it. And so when i had that realization about a, i thought that what was true about britain , it mustve been true about the other powers as well. And so what i found after quite a bit of digging is a small cast of characters and with those very similar with american intelligence. And this is a man in his late 20s who was also secretly on the table of standard oil and some things never change. [applause] a jewish settler from romania who settled with his family in palestine who was at the time a great agronomist and at the beginning of the war he worked for the turkish regime. He came to the realization that the jewish settlers in palestine and he set up what consisted 2000 jewish settlers throughout palestine following information for the british in egypt. And then finally, a german scholar who came back to the region and a chief agent for the war. And within this small consolation of characters, we are still at center stage for the very good reason in the british are by far the biggest players in the also dictated this with what happened at the end of world war i and the peace that was created. There was so much to come later at the paris peace conference and the Balfour Declaration which encouraged jewish immigration in palestine, which then tried to walk away from this to the state of israel. And lawrence with the british army in cairo was pretty to this, which was the secret carving up between the british and the french in the region and leading up to the Balfour Declaration. And at the same time he was aware to the arab rebels and those promises were part of this with enclaves as part of a reserve. And this was part of the divided and this was part of the divided loyalty. And they are fighting and dying alongside for a promise that he increasingly new as the war went on, almost certain to be betrayed in the end. And so while you have this cast of characters that is most remarkable for the minimal amount that they have at the time, it indicates the consideration that the european powers were giving to this region and what was going to come after. The British Foreign office, he referred to this because they imagine they were going to do, if they defeated the Ottoman Empire, it was going to be a great carving up of the region. And i think that think that lawrence was aware of this and was trying to subvert with his own government was doing as the essential tragedy of lawrence of life. And i am often asked once what safety came back today, almost a hundred years later. And they answer that always occurs to me is that he would say that i told you so. And he was incredibly precedent about so many things in his warnings of what was coming in the middle east if the british and french in the colonial empires tried to impose their will. And i think that what youre seeing today in the region is that its something along the lines what he was hoping for 100 years ago. And that was what he was hoping for, united arab nation and i think instead what we are seeing is the exact opposite of that. And i dont even know if i wouldve felt so firmly than six months ago, but its clear to me now that what we are seeing playing out in the middle east is a disintegration back to the borders that existed under the Ottoman Empire and we are seeing a final collapse of this and so these three states almost exactly follow the line of what is going on of mesopotamia that existed at the time. So i think ultimately my story is sort of it is the story of what happened and i think they Work Together in some way. So i thank you. [applause] [applause] having a conversation with the two authors. I think your questions will be better than mine. If youd like to line up at the microphone, and you can start to take questions. I would really like to hear from people in the audience. Thank you. Could you Say Something contrasting with the criticism of israel on the one hand and the states where nature of antisemitism and how those two things overlap, and how they should be distinguished. Also, what is your vision going forward, and is it just the status quo in of israel and the west bank . And what kind of situation may be eventually possible . This is really incredible and the agronomist that youre talking about was my other one that was torn over this and instead it seems a coincidence here. And also my great uncle worked with this as well. And one thing about the comparison is something in defense of israel for many years, the claim was that zionism was an artificial movement creating an artificial state. In the Arab National movement was supposed to be authentic and real and we were like the western construction, and what you see now is the Arab Nationalism and arab nation and probably the only one that will remain is egypt. There are others and sunnis, and there are no libyans, as you said. And the movement that was the trade, when you look at israel you see that theres there is a need. And if this thing exists and is part of all of the difficult circumstances and all this way, it is no mistake. This is something that the people need it. And some of them are very wealthy and are disintegrating. And i say this with sadness because i want peace with them and ironically right now we are becoming very close. Never were we so close to a Sunni Alliance and a Jewish Alliance as we are in these days. And there is something troubling about the fact that while the entire world is moving forward. Not just europe and north america, but south america, east asia, large parts of africa, everyone is moving forward and this is bogged down to fanaticism. And it i dont have any explanation. But it saddens me very much. So quickly to answer your question. And its very convenient for israelis and jews to attribute everything to antisemitism. And being israeli born in one of the advantages, the many advantages, is that you are a bit free of that complex. We are so sure of our identity that we dont live in constant friction with others. In the sense this sense i was naive about it for many years. In later life i discovered how serious antisemitism is, even in the country of britain that i love and i go back there often. But yet i suggest not for plainness and i think that there are deeper reasons. I think that israel is treated unfairly in a very short wave. Israel should not be doing a lot of things. They are claiming the hands of their enemies. And second, there is this thing with the jews, but there is this expectation that they should be sense and if they are not saints, they are demons. And that kind of you know, Holding Israel of to this. When we are doing on operations, we were nearly dragged through the hay. One other service, that was fine. And so, there is some unfairness in that respect. But i think there was a deeper thing. The deeper reason is that much of the western world including europe and parts of america. The conclusion is that people came out of auschwitz with the renewed human rights religion and peace above everything and individual rights and human rights and that was the big conclusion. And we came out of auschwitz with the determination not to be powerless again. We were so righteous for centuries weve used nobody and we have no power and we only cared about morality and we ended up going up in smoke. In this the conclusion is in contrast from europe in world war ii. And so the tension there is a fascinating one. But they would not produce a to be just simple antisemitism. And i definitely dont support the status quo on the west bank. Probably due to the opportunities that do about. Okay, ari shavit, i would like to ask you about another division in israel. We happen to have a daughter. We have nine grandchildren. And so we go to israel law. Over the last 20 years weve gone there a lot. And im very disturbed about the deep division between the secular jews and the orthodox jews, there is the sexy tel aviv and the religious tel aviv. And as it was getting maybe a little easier for israel, given giving away that all of the arab enemies are fighting amongst themselves, what about this internally with the animosity that is caused by a . Youre absolutely right, i relate to that in the book. And i didnt have the time to deal with this now. The internal challenges, and one of the more important ones is really the growing ultra orthodox minority. And i am a secular person. But on the other hand, i am not an orthodox hater. Ive seen it amongst some of my friends and i think there is a complex with a jewish history and my grandfather was such that his religion was so beautiful and romantic and moral that everything was beautiful and i have no resentment to anyone. But i try not to resent in general. And what troubles me is that israeli politics works in this bipolar way. We either surrender to the orthodox are we hate them or both. And i think that we should develop a different approach because basically the challenge is very simple. As the ultra orthodox minority is growing, on the one hand we have to offer our hearts and minds and accept them as individuals and we should even recognize their special needs as a community and minority within israel and her two things we should not allow in any way. We should not allow them to impose their values on our state and society and we want the progressive and moral and democratic israel and we cannot accept anything like segregation of women or anything disgusting like that. So on these issues we have to fight really hard for no compromises whatsoever in the other issue is to generally let them join our society. The economy and the society, taking political responsibility and we have to offer them a kind of deal. You have grown up. You are too big. You have to live and you have to work and pay taxes. And we have to do it in a kind of gradual process and not push them back. And so why is this so important beyond just being needed in this way . Well, my main concern, and for talk and share perhaps we talk about iran and palestine. But i think that a wrong is very dramatic and i think that palestine is as well. But this third existence of challenge for israel is a relationship between many of you in the audience that happen to be jewish. And there is a drift and a gap between the progressive parts of the community and the younger part of the community. And they are an extension existential threat both between here and there. And if israel survives and him succeed, it needs the help of American Jews and it means young American Jews to like it and love it. If they are embarrassed by this or see it as a dark rheological entity occupying most of it is embarrassing him, if we lose him, you will lose them and then we will be in jeopardy. On the other hand we have to create israel has to create this and this is one of my hopes as i publish the book and began talking but the book will be a kind of launching pad not only about israel as i described, but i would like the new fresh discussion with young American Jews and i would like to tell them ensure that they have not heard so they would be at attracted to israel. And i see it as a journalist and a citizen to fight any darker sides of israeli life that alienate young American Jews. It is for our own society to maintain the relationship with a liberal and progressive part that is a vital part of the American Jewish community. [applause] [applause] before you ask your question, you just raised a good point and i would like to know what your ancestors would think a number one, syria. And the whole nationalism issue. Also, iran, and also the fact that israel is a democracy and we spoke about this in the middle east, and this includes others with a vibrant democracy in that area was israel. I would really like to know historically whether that would be a surprise. Im not sure that would be a surprise to one. He had an interesting take on israel. The Balfour Declaration came a year and half later in 1917. And so when he first started hearing that the Balfour Declaration was coming, lawrence just felt like this was a double whammy. That the arabs would would have to reconcile themselves the idea or fight were fight against it that they would be divided up by the colonial powers. And then second of all, the Balfour Declaration and what he said, when he was first had heard about this declaration, when he heard about it coming, he said that a jewish presence in palestine, he didnt say a state. But the control of palestine can only be maintained by the force of arms. And yet, as the world progress, certainly what he saw as an existential threat to the middle east was the french and British Colonial rule and he also recognized that this was a fait accompli. And so what he did on the eve of this press conference, he was working with the sun whose individual as part of the peace conference and he got him and they made together the fisa weitzman agreement and that was in return for a very large jewish and ultimately control of pakistan. And once was very, he was a tactician and he recognize that palestine was a fait accompli. So we can use that for control of syria. And i think that if he looks today at syria, he really understood the clan and tribal structure of the arab world, as well as any western european individual of the time. And this was always his clearing call and warning to the imperial powers. But you cannot go into this area and just carve them up and come across this is tribal and ethnic lines as they did in africa, for example. So i think that he might have looked at syria today and possibly have said that this was was kind of guaranteed to come. And iraq is agreed example. The impose the rule on iraq in 1920. Tenderloins predicted almost a month of wonderful skill level of british rule would link out there. And he was off only by a couple of months. So i really think that and i think what youre seeing now is playing out. As was said. The region is falling back into the sectarian and tribal clan affiliations. And i think what he was trying to do is figure out if there was some way its not a european nationstate concept. But is there a way that you create a state where these areas have a great deal of autonomy, but somehow in a larger and cohesive way. And i think that any transfer that was destroyed with this after the war. Okay. I dont quite know about my greatgrandfather. Like grandfather and my great grandfather and uncle, they were all peacemakers of different kinds that were very colorful figures in many ways and some more local and in many respects they were part of this because they didnt see what was part of the blindness. And it did not endanger their values. And there was a prediction between the progressive end moral values. But you mentioned them and dont tell anyone, but this is one of the situations and not just because of this. And there is unprecedented opportunity, and i really hope that the people navigating the policy in washington and elsewhere would possibly look at this. Because in my mind the always are trying to make peace in the middle east have failed in heaven for bid will fail in the future. There are great opportunities to make different kinds of situations for peace and order. The fact that the sunnis now see the remains of such a threat and they see the islamic brotherhood and the extremist sunnis as a threat, and the disappointment, justified or not about american and european leadership and support, it leads them to a kind of intimate relationship with israel that we have never known in the past. And if we will work wisely, i think that we can go back to the faisalweizmann Agreement Agreement that never materialized. And i think there is actually an opportunity. But you have to understand what that means. There is no way that the king the saudi king, that he can agree to the division of jerusalem is to make all kinds of ideological and theological conceptions with the jewish designs. He doesnt have the legitimacy to do that and it will risk this. He will make a thousand under the table deals. So if we approach and under the table piece, it might be a much more sound piece than some of the declared pieces that we have tried before. From 1970s through the 1994 year, 24 years. We had all intensive purposes and the best piece possible with the king. And i think that we can go into that kind of relationship with the egyptians and the saudi indefinitely with the jordanians and others in the region. So ironically, while in the past my grandparents and this is a new realistic approach. Okay. Thank you. You have mentioned where this nation came from. My question is this nation has composed this in egypt. From this includes what we have taken captive and now the u. S. Is about to turn these affinities to be weaker. What is the question . My question is whether these people taken captive. Can you repeat the question . It didnt make sense. You ask where this nation came from. Well, where did the nation come from . Remapped that was your initial statement when you opened. At the nation with a very long history written in the bible. Excuse me, maam come at the questionandanswer not a statement and answer. So let me answer your question. Because their people behind you and also i want to tell everybody that this session is supposed to end at 6 00 p. M. It is on cspan. They are taking a lie. They are going to cut it at 6 00 p. M. The both of the authors have agreed to continue to answer question. And if you want to get your books autographed, we will have to cut it off in about another 10 minutes or so. So thank you. Thank you. Yes . Yes, this question is for ari. The secular population amongst the arabs as time goes on. This is the population decreasing among the arabs and is being replaced by more valid populations. And this is part of the leaders of israel that are coming to the Peace Agreement as soon as possible. And i think that we should always do this, we should always do the right thing. The middle middle east is the land of the unexpected. When things seem desperate, and i dont think that being worried about what will happen in 10 years we should look at things as they are and do the right thing. I have always considered myself i have never had blinders on and just from a realistic point of view, i dont understand the last 20 years have been harder and harder for me to defend and why there hasnt been more outreach from the israeli side, i just dont know. And this is to strengthen hama . And eventually as jerusalem and the jews know better than anyone else, they know that as well. And the question is what is the plan . Okay, so why is there no reach . And this is the question. Question . So let me answer. Its a very simple answer. First of all of course as you can understand i want us to reach an agreement but i think we have to reach out in a sensible realistic way. One of the problems is that the piece thinking and peace concept will not renew in 20 years. This is what i think we need fresh thinking. You will not trite to a 25yearold chevy. So i think its time to thank fresh and to describe it in just a sentence. When israelis open their hearts and decided to go to peace in 1993 the result was a waive of terror and buses exploding in central jerusalem. When israelis took a giant step forward and the Peace Agreement in 2000 the result was the worst suicide bombing terror offensive ever. When the israelis opened their hearts the third time and we withdrew from the gaza strip and the result was rockets coming in in southern jerusalem must awful. It is understandable why middleoftheroad realistic wellmeaning israelis are afraid their fears are somewhat justified. Yet i say lets not surrender to fear but lets think and bring out the new creative idea of how we move forward and learn from the lessons of the past and do not underestimate or do not ignore the fact that there are legitimate fears on the other side within israel. [applause] i would just add one thing to that which is also the creation of the wall that has had this effect of removing any sense of urgency to make a deal. I think with a heightened sense of security inside of israel that day of reckoning of the palestinian question can be put off seemingly forever. That is part part of it but that came after the trauma. To this day we did it not acknowledge these traumas in their paralyzing israeli Public Opinion so we have to address them. By the way i think the war was part of the solution but thats another discussion. I hope you dont mind if i asked scott a question. I wanted to ask you if you couldnt recall and summarize, i think its a bit of a funny story of what lawrence had to do to actually conscript or signup you had to get a uniform and do a wild move. I remember faintly but maybe you can reveal that story because i think its pretty funny. Its a great story. When the war started in august of 1914 lawrence, he has been a great deal of time at the archaeological site and was in northern london and there was such a rush of people to enlist that the British Government raised its height standards. Lawrence is only 5 feet 4 inches and i believe there is a height of 5 feet 6 inches so he could not enlist and what happened was he got a job working for the Mapping Department of the British Military headquarters in london. He was then that job for about six weeks and a british general who was about to go off to the western front to belgium wanted to look at the uptodate battlefield maps of the sector he was going to be going to and walking in this room he was so offended that he was going to be reefed by this fivefoot fourinch civilian. He said i want to be briefed by an officer. There were no officers left. Everyone had been sent to the front so lawrence was hustled off to the armynavy store to get a Second Lieutenants uniform and they made him a second lieutenant. That is how lawrence became a british officer. [laughter] you are going to be the last question. The rumor is that he was maybe the only person ever. Thats right. It was not a rumor. Actually happened. It was right at the end of the war. The world was two weeks away from finishing. Lawrence has helped in damascus and the tovar 1919 and he rushed back to london to start putting putting trying to put his influence into the postwar division of the region and on the morning of october 30 he was summons to Buckingham Palace and he thought he was going there to brief the king on these deliberations, these geopolitical to liberations. The king and the queen, queen mary walked in and there was a raised platform. Lawrence realized he was about to be knighted and two things unusual about this, over the previous four years of the war there were some an invest teachers and metals. Investors were always done en masse at this point so private that searcher was almost unheard of and queen mary had heard about lawrences exploits in arabia so she made an exception to come. Lord chamberlain is sitting there with his pillow with all these metal sonic and the king turns to lawrence and says i have some gifts for you and he goes to put the first metal on lawrence and lawrence refuses to be knighted. The british monarchy is all about protocol. There is protocol for absolutely everything but there was no protocol for someone refusing knighted to the kings face. It never happened before. Apparently the king just stood there awkwardly for a minute and put the metal back down on lord chamberlains pillow and lawrence turned and walked out. [laughter] why did he do it . I think he did it because he knew that the trail was coming. What really motivated lawrence and what he really risked his life over and over again was in trying to, to try to uphold the promises the British Government had made to britain and i think by the end of the war it was very clear that they were going to be sold out and the betrayal of the british and french was a forgone conclusion. My question is for ari. This may sound like a simple question and maybe it is. Im not so sure if it is though. You mentioned in israel what israel should be doing to reach out to the diaspora to and americans so forth. My question is the inverse. What should americans ,com,com ma jewish in america who love israel but dont blindly love israel but still love israel, what should we be doing to further the dialogue for the situation as you see it . What is our role in this . I have an unusual answer for journalists. I think pretty much you are doing what you should. I think in this sense american jewry is doing what it should in supporting israel and maintaining itself. Where im actually worried and this is unusual for an israeli to say. Im more worried about your own communities and therefore my vision is i want to come to israel to bring israel there. Each one if you like science, if you like politics, whatever part of israel you can relate to work with it in a whatever we decide that i think it is our role really and i will give an example. I am really troubled by the lack of affordable Jewish Education in this country. I think this is the heart, if there is a future in the jewish community. I dont expect israel to send shekels to fund jewishamerican schools but for instance if we would have some sort of jewish peace corps that is going around and sending our youngsters to help with the jewish schools or jewish summer camps and a million ideas. My fear is of internal jewish isolations. I dont want your community to turn its back on israel and they dont want israel to turn its back on you. I want you to do whatever. Do your thing. Whatever part of israel you have a right to work with but i want israel to work with you. I think the problem there is that we have to do as much deeper. I see it is my role and is my
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.