By Yaron Brook
Israel has managed to survive 50 years of military attacks by its Arab foes; now it faces the troubling question of whether it can survive the "peace-seeking" offensives launched by its own leaders.
From 1948, when it was founded, until the early 1980s, Israel took an uncompromising stand against anyone endangering its security. It was morally certain of its right to exist, and of its concomitant right to forcibly repel those who threatened that right. Israel's raid on Entebbe and its bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor are just two examples of its moral self-assertiveness.
In recent years, however, this firm policy has been abandoned. Now, Israel responds to aggression with passivity, it deals with its enemies through appeasement, and it grants moral respectability to vicious terrorists.
In this illuminating lecture Dr. Brook explains how the philosophical foundations on which Israel was founded are leading that country down a suicidal path. He reveals the myths about Palestine and shows how Israel, despite its mixed economy, is a tiny oasis of freedom in a vast desert of despotism.
Dr. Brook pays particular attention to the parallels between Israel and America, including the intellectual forces behind the rise, and the decline, of both countries.
This lecture was recorded at the 2000 Objectivist Summer Conference in Richmond, VA.
(MP3 download; 92 min., with Q & A, 51 MB)
This content is currently available at no cost on Yaron Brook's BlogTalkRadio page: link.
