In the Middle East, there is a culture of putting a stake in the ground and claiming land as your own, Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the United States, told nearly 250 students, faculty and community members Monday at McCormick Auditorium in the Norris University Center.
Oren’s lecture, sponsored by the Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies, Hillel and Tannenbaum Chabad House, discussed the state’s history, Palestinian relations and the Israeli government’s efforts to promote democracy in the region. His speech was followed by a brief question-and-answer session. All attendees were required to show a valid University identification card and pass through a metal detector to enter the auditorium.
Ongoing territorial feuds and fundamental cultural differences are part of the lasting effects of creating an independent Israeli state, Oren said. In his line of work there are few outright victories.
“Leaders who are saddled with responsibilities are often confronted with lose-lose situations,” Oren said. “There are times when I wake up in the morning and say a prayer that I’m not the prime minister of Israel or the president of the United States.”
The ambassador stressed the challenges of making decisions that are “going to make you fantastically unpopular in the world,” like proposing a maritime blockade on Gaza that would restrict access to weapons smugglers who he said are looking to kill Israelis.
“You have a choice of being popular (with the international community) on one hand or dead,” he said. “That kind of decision.”
The consulate general of Israel asked that NU host Oren, who was in Chicago on a business trip and wanted to speak at a college campus, said Michael SiMonday, executive director of Hillel.
The lecture, which comes just weeks after the Westboro Baptist Church’s anti-Jewish protest outside of Northwestern’s Fiedler Hillel building, was “an opportunity for dialogue and pointed but respected challenges,” Simon said.
Still, some students said they weren’t satisfied with the question-and-answer session.
When second-year graduate student D Sajnani asked about the feasibility of creating a single binational state, Oren said Israel is “still committed to the two-state solution.”
“The Jewish state is the realization of our right to self-determination. What you’re suggesting is to deny us that,” Oren responded.
Sajnani, who is in the African American Studies program, said he thought Oren’s response was “sarcastic.”
“He answered it politically (because) he’s a diplomat. He gave me a textbook answer,” Sajnani said. “That’s a debate he didn’t want to have, so he degrades the United Nations in his talk, but he’s alluding to United Nations principles. It’s hypocritical.”
For DePaul University sophomore Noam Zuckerman, the lecture cleared up fallacies about anti-Israel sentiment in the United States.
“There are still people who are ignorant,” he said. “(It’s better) if you know the history of Israel with more moral consideration.”
Before leaving McCormick Auditorium, Oren acknowledged Israel’s imperfections and said the state continues to grapple with inequality within its borders.
“(Israel) is a democracy that is struggling all the time to right the wrong that many of its citizens perceive,” he said. “(It) is a work in progress.”
