For those who could hear him, Yossi Klein Halevi was mesmerizing Saturday night. He delivered a 54-minute talk on the situation in Israel and then answered questions for 30-minutes (towards the end, near 10pm, the crowd was streaming out and at only half-strength).
I'm ready to heap even more plaudits on his head tonight than I was several months ago on this site when I nominated him for a Pulitzer prize in literature for his two memoirs.
I wouldn't even have gotten in the door tonight (due to the $18 price) except my buddy spotted me a free ticket (and bought a copy of my book to accompany him on his business travels).
Yossi spoke Friday night about Israel's turn to the East among those under 35. Those over 50 tend to look to Europe for vacations and culture. Those under 35 tend to fly to India after their service in the IDF (Israel Defense Force) to rejuvenate and explore their latent spirituality.
This has had many effects on young Israelis, including:
* They are more spiritually attuned and hungry than their secular elders.
* They are more open to ritual.
* They are less willing to buy into traditional schimatic mindsets (which have wracked Ashkenazim for almost 200 years).
* Though they are open to religion and to study of Jewish text, they are unlikely to automatically follow the dictates of Israeli's Orthodox rabbinate.
Yossi was equally eloquent Saturday morning, but that is a time in my life when I nap, and I couldn't fully break that habit today.
This was the first time I had seen Halevi in person. I wanted to spot some flaw in his character so I could bust his chops on my blog for not giving me an interview for my Jewish journalism book, but he was understated and charming (effective qualities for a journalist). There's no more sensitive observer of the Jewish soul.
His public speaking is not flashy or false. Just one thoughtful sentence follows another.
He got a crowd of over 300 people. One old man wandered in late. His earing aid wasn't turned on. The security guard inquired if he had a ticket. The old man started yelling that he was the president of this and that.
There's this amazing sense of entitlement among many Jews. They expect you to know who they are and their level of their accomplishment.
Yossi said:
Yassir Arafat has been indispensable for not only the Palestinians but for us...in telling us our place in the world. He's been a shadow prime minister of Israel for 40 years.
Arafat made clear to us that our great victory in 1967 would not lead to lasting peace.
Following the Yom Kippur war, Arafat started the deligitimization of Israel that is culminating now, two decades later.
In some sense, Arafat's greatest offense against Israel happened in the 1990s when he toyed with our deepest longings and seemed to offer us legitimacy, which we so desperately craved.
If Arafat is hated universally [in Israel] from left to right, Yossi Beilin said he would not go to his funeral...
Arafat represented the post-Holocaust legitimization of the murder of Jews and the delegitimization of the Jewish state.
Yossi supports Ariel Sharon. He says Sharon's approach to Israel's security is supported by at least 70% of the Israel public (support levels that no other Israeli politician could match). Yossi supports Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and the construction of a fence to keep terrorists. The fence would mean that Israel is going to retain sovereignty over greater Jerusalem. It means that every time Israel has offered the Palestinians an opportunity for a negotiated settlement (since 1947) and the Palestinians have spurned these overtures, the Palestinians are steadily being offered less and less.
Yossi says that only Israel's hawks can fulfill the vision of its doves. The left was right that Israel can't continue to occupy. The left was wrong in thinking that Israel could negotiate peace with the Palestinian leadership.
During question time, Yossi was asked about his last book (a journey seeking peace among Christians and Muslims near Jerusalem) and about his views on the threats posed by Iraq and Iran. He replied:
I don't believe that journey among Muslims has any relevance [to the current situation in Israel]. The book came out 9/11. I was in Manhattan waiting for my book party that night that never happened.
.......
I think back to two years ago and all the apocalyptic scenarios by critics of the coming war [against Iraq]. None of those came true. It is positive that Jihadists are concentrating in Iraq. It is proven in Fallujah that that war can be won. All that it requires is a deep breath and commitment.
I have no doubt that [Islamic terrorists] were disappointed that Bush was re-elected.
The re-election of Bush sends the signal to the Jihadist world [about America's determination to fight terrorism].
