Thank you very much. Thank you.  Thank you.  

Stephen Savitsky, thank you very much for your kind words.  In just in a minute, I'll recognize all these very distinguished guests and then I'll come back to that afternoon of the fifteenth of August.  If I'm not mistaken, of the Sbarro bombing, because this is a day in which no one can forget.
 
Mr. Blitz,
Mr. Howard Friedman, who is President of the most powerful Jewish organization in the world, AIPAC, and he is doing a great job for the State of Israel,  
Rabbi Weinreb,
Mr. Bane,
and Ambassador Danny Ayalon, who I had the honor of introducing, despite his absence, to 5,000 Jews at the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities in Los Angeles just a week ago,
Distinguished Members of the Orthodox Union,
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Coming back to the 15th of August – this was a terrible day, and the worst possible picture was the picture of the five members of the same family who were killed in a most brutal way, who came just to have a bite in the middle of the day.  They came from one of the settlements and stopped by, and five of them were killed.  And I remember myself, walking around, going into Sbarro, which you can imagine is a sight that I will never forget in my life. 

And then I came to speak to you and then I went back and I had another event at that night.  And the other event was on Mt. Scopus in the amphitheater was of Hadassah and I also say to myself how can I go and speak there.  And then I said, if those wonderful people come to Israel at a time when it is so dangerous and so risky to just walk in the street, the main street of Jerusalem and then they come in thousands, do I have the right not to go and just recognize their devotion for the State of Israel and for our people. And I went there, I don't remember what I said, I just remember that all of us were crying. 

We may have some differences, occasionally; I don't think we do, just on one or two issues, but this is marginal, because what really counts is the statement that you make several times every year, many of you, and the statement that you make throughout the years in your absolute loyalty to the well-being of the people of Israel and the State of Israel.  This is so important.  It is so significant and it is so encouraging to all of us that when this statement is made – on all the other issues, we can talk, we can argue, we can agree, we can even occasionally disagree – but it is much less important that this one statement that your presence here makes for all of us.  And as Mr. Savitsky correctly said, we know that we can count on you, and we know that you are there for us, any time that we may need you.  And we know also that amongst the 30% of Jews that come to the State of Israel, there are many, many of the members of the your communities across America, across North America, and that in your communities, it is well above the average than it is in the United States in general, and this is very, very important. 

As you know, the State of Israel is battling with lots of problems.  The truth is that I don't really generally think that the objective situation is as difficult as it sometimes appears to all of us when we think about the problems.  In fact when we analyze the situation, one has to recognize the fact that the economic situation of Israel today is perhaps the best it ever was.  The economy of the State of Israel has done so well over the last few years, and in this year better than in any year in the history of the State of Israel, with more than 20 billion dollars of foreign investments in the Israeli economy this year – in spite of all the difficulties and all the challenges and all the risks and all the fighting and terror and what not.  Which means that lots of business people from across the world believe that it is worthwhile to invest for the long-term in the Israeli economy because it will pay off. 

And many of those investors, are not Jews, they are not even Zionists.  Perhaps the most prominent one, Warren Buffet from Omaha, which is quite far away, when he came, finally came after investing 4 billion dollars in cash, first in his history, that he invested outside of the United States of America, he did it in Israel, and he did it before he ever came to visit Israel – only by reading the balance sheet of Yiscar Industries.  So when I finally met him and hosted him in my office, I asked him, "Mr. Buffet, now that you have been to the place and you saw what you bought, are you happy?"  And he said, "Are you crazy, this is the best investment that I ever made in my life."  And he said, "Israel is the most fantastic place I have ever been to and I'm going now to the United States to be your ambassador in every single community in America and tell the people in America what a fantastic place Israel is.”  He said, “You have foods here which I had never seen in any place in the world.  You have the best industries in the world.”  This is Israel, by the way which I am talking about.  Alright?  So don't take it lightly. 

Warren Buffet didn't do it because he's a member of Kadima, although I must tell you something, I would be very happy to have him in Kadima, but he's not.  And he's not a member of any Israeli party.  He's not a Zionist, he's not Jewish.  He knows how to make money and he thinks Israel is the best place to invest outside of America, so all this is also part of our lives and the growth you see in the Israeli economy will be beyond 4.5% which is much higher than the growth in your country and the growth in any European country.  Don't take it lightly.  It is not natural.  It's part of the of the strategy, it's part of the inner strength, it's part of the advanced technologies which characterize our economy and it is a great promise for future developments. 

So Israel is in very good economic shape, which will allow us to cope with the social problems.  Israel’s main problem, I believe, is the social gap.  This is where we will have to invest many of our resources.  We have lots of people who are very well off, that live comfortably, that live in best possible conditions.  Sometimes when you come to some of the houses you say hey, America is here, it's not there.  But there are many other places which have not been taken care of properly, due to a variety of reasons.  It is incumbent upon the Government, and we take this responsibility upon ourselves, to make sure that we can improve the status of those parts of the population - those in the south and in the north and in Jerusalem, in some other parts of the country where the economic situation requires an immediate upgrading because we can't afford to have such a gap in our society.  This society is established first and foremost on solidarity which can't be risked or endangered by a growing gap between those who have and those who have not. 

But of course the main problem of Israel is the threats that come from extremists who have not yet acquiesced with the very existence of the State of Israel.  We have problems with terror; we have problems with the Palestinians; we had serious problems in the north.  I am absolutely certain that the fighting in the north has improved the security situation in the north, and we know that the situation today is a lot better than it was.  I know that there are some arguments about it, but there is one thing which can't be denied, and sometimes it's important to listen to our adversaries and enemies.  If you ask Nasrallah today, what does he think about the situation, he most likely would tell you what he said publicly, that had he known even one percent of what he would have to face, he would have never started.  And believe me, Nasrallah would have loved to return to the 11th of July in comparison to what he has to face today. 

But this is not the main problem of Israel.  The main problem of Israel is the threat that comes from those who openly and explicitly talk about wiping us off the map.  There are two aspects to this problem.   One is the physical threat, the potential possession of non-conventional weapons by an enemy that explicitly and publicly talks about wiping Israel off the map.  But the other aspect which is not less important and significant is the moral aspect.  We heard these voices in the past, of leaders, of nations who talked about the liquidation of the Jewish people.  We can't afford to acquiesce, to listen and not to react, and we can't allow anyone, anyplace in the world, to continue their routine without responding to the moral challenge of those who are threatening the very life of the Jewish people in the State of Israel.

I had long discussions in America last week with all the authorities about these issues.  And I shared it with my dear friend, Howard Friedman, that I found understanding and commitment by the great friend of the State of Israel that resides in the White House today, George W. Bush. I know that some of his policies are controversial in America. There are some who support his policies in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, some who do not.  Not from any political considerations.  I couldn't care les about politics.  You don't believe me, I hate politics.  I stand with the President because I know that Iraq without Saddam Hussein is so much better for the security and safety of Israel and all the neighbors of Israel which are of any significance to us.  Iraq without Saddam Hussein is much better for us than an Iraq with Saddam Hussein.  And thank G-d for the courage, determination and leadership manifested by George W. Bush in facing this challenge as admirably as he did. 

I know that there are many other issues which are part of our agenda, which are part of your agenda and sometimes they are part of the common agenda which you and us have that we have to discuss and we have to talk about.  I heard so many arguments today that I decided that if I come to the Orthodox Union tonight, I'll leave some of these issues aside and focus on those which unite us. 

I think that on all of those issues and they are serious issues and I don't underestimate their importance and their significance – the issues of conversion and the issues of the quality and nature of our Jewish identity and what it means in the life of the State of Israel as a state and so on so forth.  One thing I know, we must have the appropriate formats for open discussions about these issues.  I always believed, all my life in listening to the Jews who live outside the State of Israel.  I always said that during the most heated debates between Jews from the Diaspora and Jews from the State of Israel that it is totally inconceivable to me that when we will need you, you will stand firmly behind us 100 percent, but then when it comes to issues which may define to a large degree also the quality of your life in your communities, they would say, this is our issues, you are not part of it.

This is impossible. We have to be able to share with you, to dialogue with you, to talk to with you, to listen to you.  We don't have to agree with you about everything, as you don't have to agree with us about everything.  But we have to be able to open ourselves to you and to talk with you.  And in this spirit of friendship, of respect, and of gratefulness for your support for the State of Israel, I want to congratulate this gathering today, this convention of the Orthodox Union and I am certain that Israel will be able to cope with our difficulties and problems and challenges by that at any given time in the future, when we will need you, you will be there for us. Thank you very much.