President's Conference - Part Four

Today, a special three-part bloggers' session was convened. First was Natan Sharanksy, who I first met in Moscow in November 1976.

Second was the President himself, Shimon Peres (next to him is former Cabinet Secretary Israel Maimon, Chair of the Conference Steering Committee):

and then Jim Wales of Wikipedia:

Peres defined Jewishness as holding to a moral code, a thirst to learn and a desire to help Israel survive.  On the campuses, we must show that despite all criticism, Israel holds the high moral ground.  As an 11th Commandment: respect your peers.

On the security issue he sounded quite hawkish - Israel has been attacked 7 times in 63 years; we alone are a state that faces destruction threats and in all the region, we alone are separated by religion, culture and history from all the others.

We must always exercise the mind - and he notes that while Rabbi Elyashiv is almost 100, and his body almost really doesn't exist, since he never stopped studying, his mind is a salert as when he was much younger.  The IDF should combine camp & campus - providing a BA degree by end of service.

^