Everybody. 50 years ago israel fought a war for its survival. By the summer of 1967, 250,000 arab troops amassed on israels borders. Forced to protect its people, israel mounted a preemptive strike. Over just six days, israel defeated the egyptian air force, retook the sinai peninsula, the Golan Heights and reunified the city of jerusalem. [ applause ] the sixday war redefined israel and americans relationship with the young jewish state so tonight we come together to discuss the war and its impact. This is six days in june. With us this evening to talk about the sixday war and impact are three incredible guests. Michael oren is former israeli ambassador [ applause ] the former israeli ambassador to the United States as some of you may know and serves as a member and a deputy minister for diplomacy in the Prime Ministers office, also the author of six days of war, one of the most highly regarded books on the sixday war. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome again ambassador michael oren. Nir barkat, left an impressive career in the hightech industry to enter politics. Hes not only a native of the city of jerusalem, but hes currently serving his second term as its mayor. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the mayor of jerusalem, nir barkat. [ applause ] and Yossi Klein Halevi is one of israels leading authors and thinkers. His book like dreamers chronicles the paratroopers that reunified jerusalem. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Yossi Klein Halevi. Nir, lets start with you. You are the only one of the four of us actually living in jerusalem during the war. What do you remember of the days leading up to and during the war . Well, i was 7 years old. And i remember prewar helping the soldiers dig trenches and fill sandbags right around my home. We were a few hundred yards from the Demilitarized Zone separating between jordan and israel. And we were shelled and bombed. I remember our parents put my brother and i underneath the beds. And when i think about it today, the risk we were at is hard to believe. We were shelled and bombed. Some of your neighbors were wounded. I remember out after the war to see the wrecks around our home. And then i saw the adults cry. And i couldnt understand why the adults were crying when we won the war. The excitement then from an eyes of a 7yearold, it took me years to understand the huge opportunity then we have by reuniting the city of jerusalem and until today i pinch myself every morning when i go to work on the huge opportunity and the honor we have to live in our era in a united city of jerusalem. [ applause ] michael, you literally wrote the book on the sixday war. Many people in this room im sure know the basics of what happened. But youre an expert. So what do you know about the war that you wish other people knew . Okay. Thank you, david. Shalom aipac, first of all. The book that i wrote was full of revelations for me. I grew up in not jerusalem but in the United States and i remember my parents sitting in front of a Television Set during those three horrible weeks of waiting before the war broke out and tearing their hair out, i remember this, thinking we would witness a holocaust in a single generation and the world would do nothing. Israel, indefensible borders, 8 miles wide, jerusalem divided, surrounded by arab armies on all sides. That swore to drive us into the sea. We had a friendship with the United States but not a Strategic Alliance with the United States. Israel fought with french bullets and the french on the evening of the war switched sides. Right. No fighting against a soviet bloc of countries, against china and hostile india. Hard to imagine today. Israel completely alone in the world and six days later, everything changed. A great revelation for me was encountering the great the almost incalculable depth of fear on behalf of israeli leaders. People we grew up thinking had no fear anywhere. These people were facing what they believe was an existential threat and you encountered it reading in the documents. But there was one moment researching the book which i literally my jaw fell open. It was a document written june 7th, 1967, at 9 00 in the morning. At that moment, the israeli paratroopers had completed the encirclement of the city of jerusalem. They were on the mt. Of olives waiting the order to go in and reach the coat tail and the Prime Minister wrote a letter to king hussein of jordan and said, your majesty. You could do it back then. You could send a letter. Your majesty, if you agree to a ceasefire, if you agree to enter into peace talks with the state of israel, the paratroopers will not enter the old city. Here is the leader of the first jewish state in 2,000 years who is prepared and poised to reunite the jewish people, is willing to give up that historic opportunity to make peace with one arab country. Imagine the depth of our commitment to peace. That was extraordinary for me, david. That is extraordinary. [ applause ] im sure not widely known. Lets pick up on that. Yossi, what most people dont realize is israels plans war never included jerusalem. They made every effort to keep jordan out of the war and pulled in by the egyptians and syrians. Your book tracks the lives of the israeli paratrooper that is reunified the city. What did you learn . Well, the question thats long preoccupied me about Israeli Society is how do we hold together despite the tremendous internal strains that could tear another society apart, especially the leftright debate over the future of the territories . Because each camp sees the vision of the other as a kind of existential threat to the country itself. And as i was researching the story of brigade 55 which liberated the wall, i realized that some of the leaders of both the future Settlement Movement and the future Peace Movement were sharing the same metaphor call tent and in some cases literally the same tent and the extraordinary inner story of israel is how we manage to pull together, we do reserve duty every year and then intervals between reserve duty we argue about the consequences of the victories that we bring together. This was left and right fought together, liberated jerusalem and you think that that most basic of connection prevails still . It still holds us together . Absolutely. Let me ask you again, michael, lets start with you, the Lasting Impact of the war on israel in your opinion . The Lasting Impact of the war . Lasting impact of the war was to change the middle east. Ir rev cobring and create the u. S. israel Strategic Alliance. People forget we fought this war without that alliance and only on the seventh day that american policymakers said this little superpower defeated the armies. Maybe we should have an alliance with that country. Many ways what happened here is a direct product of the sixday war. [ applause ] the sixday war was what gave us peace with egypt. Its what gave us peace with jordan. Its what gave us the reunification not only of jerusalem but the state of israel with the land of israel and was a tremendous infusion of jewish idty, both in israel and in the United States and indeed throughout the jewish world and the sixday war gave us security, secure borders. We didnt have secure borders before that. The state of israel, the middle east, in many ways, the world would look completely different today without these six short transformative days in june 1967. Mayor barkat, nir . I would add to that it created internally within israelis the understanding that we have to win all wars. We have to excel. We have to outsmart an enemy. The whole hightech sector and the whole bravery of Israeli Soldiers comes from the sixday seven war because if we beat all the arab armies then, it creates very, very powerful, strong belief in ourselves. And i think that since then, something good has happened to the people the israelis. Willing to be aggressive, seeking peace, seeking peace, but we know how to fight. And that created some very internal powers. I myself remember the 67 war when i saw the soldiers, the paratroopers liberate jerusalem. Thats when i decided to be a paratrooper and then a Company Commander later when i was a young adult. So, for me, it was a milestone in israeli history. [ applause ] so, a moment that cemented sort of National Self confidence. Yossi . Well, i studied the psyche of israel, the soul of israel so my answer will be more abstract. May 1967 bequeathed us a permanent sense of the possibility of vulnerability, the fear of being alone again in the International Community, and the sense that the threat of genocide was not exhausted by the holocaust which i think was an enormous shock to the jewish psyche. On the other hand, june 1967 bequeathed us the sense of power not in vulnerability but certainly the sense that we can protect ourselves quite adequately. And also, convey to us a sense of the responsibility of power and the complexity of the consequences of power. And so, i feel that the people of israel are constantly weighing in some sense the lessons of mai 67 and june 67 and how do we apply those lessons to the various challenges that we face . Nir, that prompts a question to you really about jerusalem and, you know, people hearing the stories of the jerusalem divided. From before the sixday war, the separation and now, you know, separation of east and west. What are the stories that arent getting told and how are you continuing to work most specifically to unify the residents of the city . Seven days ago, monday morning, i took seven ambassadors from unesco that abstained in the last terrible vote. They wanted the see me in the office. I took them to the city of david to see the pool where jesse helms blessed the blind. We walk on the stones, and i said to them, this is where kings and prophets walked. An we went up the paved road that is now uncovered in the city of david. And went to a balcony and i showed them the city. The churches. The mosques. The synagogues. That in one square kilometer we have more holy sites than anywhere else in the world and they were stunned to see not just our past but how jerusalems open, how many people live and breathe in the city. How it works. And amazing way. Then, we shared with them whats happening in our hightech, the fact that jerusalem just entered the 25 largest cities in hightech in the world. 2016. And how our hightech sector is working. [ applause ] i would like the world to see what those unesco ambassadors, what a lot of people in this crowd saw. Our roots and our history and our holy sites on one side and the connectivity to the future and making a better world for the benefit of all people from all over the world. This is something wed like to showcase and share jerusalem with the world. [ applause ] that brings me really to the last question i have to ask you. Fairly briefly. You know, the traditional gift for a 50th anniversary is gold. Of course, jerusalem is known as jerusalem of gold. So on the golden anniversary of the citys reunification, michael, lets start with you, what wish do you have for the citys future . I think jerusalem should be viewed by the people of the middle east and not only by the people of the middle east as an example of what can be done. Not what cant be done. You know, whether im conducting diplomacy in the Prime Ministers office or representing my party, im reminded of the fact im a twohour drive from isis. Im four or fivehour drive from the civil war in iraq, threehour drive from the civil war in sinai and hamas and gaza. Yet, here we are in this capital of israel in i can necessary set, jews of various stripes, and observances and political outlooks, christians, muslims, drews, debating, debating the hardest issues, we debate them loudly and we decide democratically without anybody raising a fist, must less firing a gun. Jerusalem is an example to the middle east and the world of what can be, what the middle east can be. Jerusalem, my wish, should be recognized not just by the United States but by all of humanity as a light unto nations. Beautiful. [ applause ] nir, very, very briefly. Your hope for the citys future . Jerusalem has a role in the world, inclusive role, its enabling all people from all tribes, mind you that jerusalem was divided into tribes, jews and nonjews alike to come and enjoy the holy city of jerusalem. Connect our future to our past. And excel. It can be done. It is being done. I just want to fuel and work faster to fulfill that role year after year even better than before. Beautiful. Yossi, very briefly and finally. My prayer for jerusalem, my city, our city, is that the International Community will recognize the jewish people as the legitimate custodian of jerusalem. [ applause ] and that and that we and that we will see ourselves as the custodians of jerusalem for humanity. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, what a wonderful, energizing 50th anniversary conversation. Nir barkat, Yossi Klein Halevi, michael oren, thank you. Thank you everybody. Thank you. That was phenomenal. Phenomenal. Former canadian Prime MinisterStephen Harper has been a leading [ applause ] outspoken and courageous voice in strong