This House believes it's time for the US to get tough on Israel
Wednesday March 25 2009
Georgetown University, Washington DC
MOTION PASSED
by 63% to 37%
Speakers
Michael Scheuer
Speaking for the motion
Michael Scheuer is the former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden Unit.
He worked for the CIA for almost 20 years and was involved in covert action and national security issues related to Afghanistan, South Asia, and the Middle East before resigning in 2004.
Mr. Scheuer is the author of several books including ‘Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq’ which was published in 2008, ‘Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terrorism’ and ‘Through Our Enemies’ Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America’.
Dore Gold
Speaking against the motion
Dr. Dore Gold is President of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs and a former Israeli advisor and diplomat.
He was the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations from 1997 to 1999 and served as an advisor to two former prime ministers, Benjamin Netayahu and Ariel Sharon.
Dr. Gold has been involved in several peace initiatives including the 1998 Wye River negotiations between Israel and the PLO and the Madrid Peace Conference.
He has written numerous books and articles on the Middle East, including ‘US Military Strategy in the Middle East’ and ‘The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City’.
Avraham Burg
Speaking for the motion
Avraham Burg has been a leading figure in Israeli politics for more than 20 years and a senior member of the Labour Party.
In 1999 he became the youngest speaker of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, a position he held until 2003.
He left the parliament for several years in 1995 to become the Executive Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. He also served as Deputy Chairman of the World Jewish Congress and Co-Chair of the World Jewish Restitution Organisation.
Mr. Burg is the author of several books including ‘The Holocaust is Over; We Must Rise from Its Ashes.’
Alan Dershowitz
Speaking against the motion
Alan Dershowitz is a well-known lawyer and the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Newsweek has called him “the nation’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights."
He is the author of 27 books including the New York Times bestseller, ‘The Case for Israel,’ as well as ‘The Case for Peace’ and ‘The Case Against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace’.
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