This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Philip Gardner.
Alumnus and Congressman Steve Israel, D-N.Y., spoke in strong support of the country that bears his last name to a crowd of students in the Marvin Center Wednesday.
Israel, who has represented central Long Island since 2001, graduated from GW in 1982. He spoke and answered questions for more than an hour at the event, which was sponsored by the GW College Democrats, GreenGW, GAP Israel, the Jewish Student Association and the Alumni Association.
“I believe the single greatest threat in the Middle East is Iran,” Israel said.
He said it was a feeling countries in the region shared as well. “When you sit with the defense ministers and the prime ministers and the foreign ministers and you have a map of the Middle East and you say ‘What keeps you up at night?’ they’re not pointing at Israel – they’re pointing at Iran.”
He faulted the Bush administration for not preventing Iran’s nuclear expansion, noting that when George W. Bush took office Iran had zero nuclear centrifuges compared to 8,000 when he left office eight years later.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel said he believed that the Obama administration was “walking a very fine line between trying to signal to the Arab world that they’re not reflexively pro-Israel so that they’ll come along and help the United States stop Iran while and at the same time trying to broker a long term peace between Israel and Palestine.”
Israel was also critical of past U.S. policy in the region.
“We as a country have made a mistake over the past many years with respect to U.S. policy towards Israel and Arab countries,” Israel said. “Our mistake has been that we believed that negotiating at high diplomatic altitudes is going to make a difference.”
Israel cited Palestinian schools which he said embed a hatred and mistrust of the country of Israel from a young age in Palestinian youth one of the reasons it is difficult for the Palestinian population to accept an Israeli state.
“Reforming curricula and education in Palestinian classrooms is what will bring peace and stability,” he said. “And the Palestinians have shown no desire to do that.”
Juliana Amin, a freshman in the Columbian College, asked Israel if he felt the United States should put any pressure on Israeli government to change its policies towards Palestine. The congressman pointed to a need for Israel to find a better policy regarding warfare that reduced Palestinian civilian causalities, though he offered no alternatives. Amin said she felt unsatisfied with Israel’s military tactics-focused response.
“I was asking about basic human rights issues and the daily struggles that Palestinians go through as a result of Israeli policy towards Palestine,” Amin said. “I feel like he didn’t really answer my question.”
Others felt more satisfied with Israel’s performance. Kaitlin Gaughran, also a freshman, worked for Israel’s re-election campaign in 2008 and said it was great to hear him speak.
“It was inspirational to hear him talk about what we as College Democrats can do in the future,” she said.
