ESHIVA University president Richard Joel presented Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton with an honorary degree of doctor of laws, which gave her a platform to expound on the Middle East situation. She said that on a recent visit to Israel and Jordan she had a meeting with Ariel Sharon. Suddenly she was interrupted by an aide who whispered in the prime minister’s ear of an Arab attack on a town in the Negev.
"We must stand by Israel and make it absolutely clear we guarantee Israel’s security," Clinton said. "That means doing more than simply providing Israel with economic aid so it can remain strong in the face of ongoing threats. We must not only demand but we must have teeth in our demands that President Mahmoud Abbas dismantle the structure of terror that the Palestinian leadership has employed for so long.
"Even in a fledgling democracy, leaders must be held accountable. And therefore President Abbas and his leadership must be held accountable for the actions taking place under him. In defeating terror, Israel’s cause is our cause.
Burton Resnick, Joseph Wilf,
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Richard Joel |
The evils of terrorism, a burden long suffered by Israelis, threatens to rip apart the fabric of the Middle East.
"We must stand by Israel and guarantee her security. I support the rationale of a fence. We must defend ourselves and our allies against such nihilistic forces."
The junior senator from New York called on the people of the Middle East to look to Israel to learn what democracy means.
Also receiving honorary degrees were Linda Altman; Jay Feinberg, founder of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation; Kathryn O. Greenberg, founder of the New York Legal Assistance Group; Jack M. Nagel, real estate developer in Los Angeles, and Rose Yavarkovsky, a founder of YU’s Sy Syms School of Business.
About 750 people attended Yeshiva’s 81st annual convocation and dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria where $1.5 million was raised.
