good evening, everyone, i m erin burnett and outfront tonight live from jer ruse level the old city is behind me, as you can see the walls. just a few hours ago, the sirens went off in the city people stopping on the sides of the streets in honor of the beginning of memorial day. later on this week exit will be the 64th anniversary of the state of israel. it is an important week in this country and and it is an important decision whether to strike or not strike iran, a conversation topic at dinner tables around the world and crucial election issue in the united states as well. matters a whole lot to americans, barack obama, mitt romney. i had a rare conversation with benjamin netanyau at his home today. we talked about iran, mitt romney, barack obama and a whole lot more as he opened up at his home. mr. prime minister, thank you so much for inviting us and letting us come and see your home. well, welcome to jerusalem. take a look around. we came here to your courtyard.
why did you write the book? it s about essentially, well here s the first question. what is the crisis of zionism? the crisis of zionism is that for me, the miracle of the creation of the state of israel, the reason that my 6-year-old son has an israeli flag on his wall is that 1948, with the stench of jewish death still hanging over europe, with israel fielding an army full of people who had numbers tattooed on their arms from the concentration çcamps. israel wrote a constitution that promised complete social and economic rights. the crisis is when you control the west bank for 44 years, a place where jews have citizenship and the right to vote and live under civil law and palestinians are noncitizens, don t have the right to vote, live under military law, have their movement radically restricted, you desecrate israel s founding principles and you put into question the issue whether zionism can remain a democracy for the long term.
wow! that really works! .all taking losses. it looks like mr. clean has won everything. the cleaning games are finished? and so are we. okay, but i just took a mortgage out on the cabinet. [ male announcer ] clean more, work less, with the mr. clean magic eraser extra power. from new york, i m chris hayes, with me i have peter beinart, author of the crisis of zionism, author rula jabreal, hooman majj, and eli lake, who has turned off his iphone, busted, we re talking aboutç the negotiations over iran s nuclear program. hooman, you were making a point about domestic opinion within iran and the effect of the them
a little peaceful music to lower the temperature at the table. sunday morning, we have sonalikolhatkar back on the table, host of uprising on pacific radio in los angeles. good to have you back here. all right. i want to talk, peter about your book. it s called the crisis of zionism this is what it looks like. it s front noted by bill clinton. it s a phenomenony well-written book, soulful and careful and it s really excellent. i have that kind of twinge of writerly jealousy while reading because it s really well done.
you write in the book about how there s a tension, i think an interesting thing to wrestle with, between when you call yourself a liberal zionist. a tension between the two ideas, it gross out of a seed bed of continental nationalism, and at the same time, liberalism is fundamentally universalistic in its vision. how do you resolve that tension? i, but i argue that there are tensions, there can be tension between two valid principles, you can have tension between national security and civil liberties, environmental protection and economic development. i believe there s a tension between a state that is designated to safeguard the jewish people and a state that offers whose declaration of independence promises complete equality. i believe given jewish history, that in fact jews do have a right and need for a state dedicated to their protection. i m young enough to remember when it was only the state of israel who was wé pájjt to go ad scoop up the ethiopian jews that