



Newsman Bob Woodruff, Colgate Class of ’83, served as host, and it feels wrong for me to come down as hard as I’d like due to the severe head trauma he suffered in Iraq. But his oozing flattery of Israel’s ex-President and Prime Minister was hard to stomach. Unfortunately his style of journalism has become the norm here in the US where our media is complicit in the dumbing down of the public and playing Israel’s PR game to perfection. Self-describing as “your classic WASP” (which pretty much described the entire audience with few exceptions), Woodruff and Peres began by chatting about their experiences on Israeli kibbutzim and recalling their earlier, more carefree selves. Those in attendance rose to their feet last Saturday night before Shimon Peres even uttered a word . Typical of standing ovations– first a few stood and then it took several moments for the rest of the crowd to catch on and I’m assuming most didn’t even know what they were standing for. As often happens with me as I eyewitness the fawning ignorance of so many US citizens on this topic, words from my Catholic school upbringing rang in my ears…”Forgive them Father for they know not what they do”. The now agnostic/atheist me still cringes that in the halls of academia, this sentiment is as apropos as ever.Newsman Bob Woodruff, Colgate Class of ’83, served as host, and it feels wrong for me to come down as hard as I’d like due to the severe head trauma he suffered in Iraq. But his oozing flattery of Israel’s ex-President and Prime Minister was hard to stomach. Unfortunately his style of journalism has become the norm here in the US where our media is complicit in the dumbing down of the public and playing Israel’s PR game to perfection. Self-describing as “your classic WASP” (which pretty much described the entire audience with few exceptions), Woodruff and Peres began by chatting about their experiences on Israeli kibbutzim and recalling their earlier, more carefree selves.

From there Woodruff asked his first question: Is ISIS the most dangerous terrorist organization? According to Peres, “there are more dangerous than ISIS. The most brutal, but not the most dangerous.” Explaining the motivations of the recruits to such organizations, they are “taken by the excitement…and the lack or respect for human life,” and the causes are “poverty and lack of hope”. He elaborated: “They speak in the name of religion and they have permission to chop off heads…Did the Lord ever permit anyone to kill young girls and young men?” Good question, in the wake of Gaza, when Israel killed 2100.

Humanist Peres went on to say we should “fight the causes of extremism, not the people.” This segued into a celebration of Israeli ingenuity. After 10,000 years of man relying on the land and needing to defend it, “the land is no longer the provider, science is”. Shimon explained that certain people have been able to capitalize on technology, while certain others “just don’t understand it…In the last 50 years the (Arab) population grew five times; the production did not.” Happily accordingly to Peres, “you’re becoming more strong by being more intelligent, more knowlegeable, more inventive.” (Anyone grasp the Israeli supremacy message?) Israeli technology “can now make from one drop of water, three drops”. (So why are Israelis hoarding it and its sources on the West Bank and depriving Gazans of potable water?)

Woodruff asked Shimon Peres, “What should the US do in Syria?” ( US taxpayers send close to $9 million to Israel every day, and Bob asks the wizened old man what the US should do?)

Peres: “The US should go to the United Nations and ask the Arab League to handle it.” (But Israel should not abide by the Arab Peace Initiative or any of numerous UN resolutions.) “If you go to war and then what? You occupy and stay? Better to use economic pressure”. ( I didn’t expect to hear Shimon Peres justify BDS.)

Then at last the hard hitting question from our brave journalist: “I want to talk about Gaza – you were in favor of withdrawing settlements.” And about what “Israel has had to do in Gaza.” (Has Had to Do: So by the simple phrasing of this question, a respected journalist justified the killing of hundreds of civilians). Peres relayed that by removing the settlers, Israel wanted to demonstrate to the Palestinians that it was willing to give back territory. “We had to force [8000] settlers to leave.” (And go where? Many went to illegal West Bank settlements.)

SP: “We thought – now they will be quiet…but Hamas took the area by force. [No mention of the election] …Why are they shooting? What are they protesting about?” BW: “Israel lost a lot of support due the bombing in Gaza. do you have any regrets. Do you think the world was correct in thinking you went over the top?” SP: “I’ll give you an example: You sit on the balcony with your child on your knee and oppposite you sits somebody else also with a child on their knee and they start to shoot at you. What should you do. If the father and the mother hide themselves behind their child, what really can be done? It’s a dilemma. They use their children and grown up people as their shield. .. Before we bombed anyplace we sent a message, we are going to bomb you. Please leave the place children….Some of them left and they were saved. Some of them did not.”