generation after generation on behalf of that ideal of freedom. as dr. martin luther king said on the day before he was killed, i may not get there with you, but i want you to know that we as a people will get to the promised land. so just [cheers and applause] so just as joshua carried on after moses the work goes on for all of you, the joshua generation, for justice and dignity, for opportunity and freedom. sore the jewish people the journey to the promise of the state of israel wound through countless generations. it involved centuries of suffering and exile, prejudice, and eve even general even
although of blame to share. but he seemed to be using the african-american experience, talking about his daughters, the seder table. the joshua generation, used by african-americans to describe that generation of post civil rights era generation. to talk about that experience, related to the palestinians and appeal to young israelis, that s the broader message here. yes, i think we re a long way from cairo, you know. i think what president obama and his people and his staff understood that in israel, you have to touch the public opinion. and then the leaders especially been minimum n benjamin netanyahu will follow. this man walked back from lots of principles just to get the soldier back. netanyahu was very, very attuned to the public opinion. so i think they understood they have to grasp the young generation, the people of israel. i think president obama did that from the very first moment he stepped down in israel. you know he was off that plane, he took off his jacket, he was
it means us working through generation after generation on behalf of that ideal of freedom. as dr. martin luther king said on the day before he was killed, i may not get there with you, but i want you to know that we as a people will get to the promiseland. so just [ applause ] so just as joshua carried on after moses, the work goes on for all of you, the joshua generation. for justice and dignity, for opportunity and freedom. for the jewish people, the journey to the promise of the state of israel wound through countless generations. it involve ed centuries of suffering and exile, prejudice and even genocide.
nothing of the difficulties on the israeli side to get that going. but i go back to donna s point. what is it that has resonated about the trip. what was the real intent. we can break down the discussion of security or the other elements of the alliance. but what really struck me is that this is a president trying to reach into the souls of jews around the world. particularly israelis. by talking a lot about jewish peoplehood. if there was a correcting aspect of this trip, it was to settle the idea that the president believes that it s not just the holocaust that gives credence to the idea of israel. but it is a sense of jewish peoplehood. he spoke of moses today, he spoke of the joshua generation and what he really spoke about in terms of reinvigorating a peace process to a younger generation, was the essence of what it means to be jewish. which is to treat the stranger as yourself. to understand that you were once a strange anywhere the land of egypt. this is the message of passover.
joshua generation, how do you think we are doing? surprisingly quite well. i say surprisingly because i detected some question about how my generation had moved things forward. hearing young people say we will never do that again. we have it made. that one particular thing i found disturbing, however things have changed. i think both my generation has begun to share our knowledge and not become offended by younger generations. the younger generation inspired us with new ways of looking at the world today. we live in a highly technical society, messages get back and forth among groups and others, individuals so very, very quickly. it s always a time of change.