Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel's Most Important Leaders Shaped Its Destiny

Description

Dennis Ross, former U.S. envoy to the Middle East and counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Dr. Eliot A. Cohen, dean of the School of Advanced International Studies, will have a conversation on "Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel's Most Important Leaders Shaped Its Destiny." Ross is a co-author of a book by the same name.

Modern Israel's founding fathers provided some of the boldest and most principled leadership of any nation. Now Israel needs their example more than ever. At a time when the political destiny of Israel is more uncertain than at any moment since its modern founding, Be Strong and of Good Courage celebrates the defining generation of leaders who took on the task of safeguarding the country's future.

David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, and Ariel Sharon were all present at the creation of the new nation in 1948. Over the next sixty years, each experienced moments when the country's existence was directly imperiled. In those moments, Israel needed extraordinary acts of leadership and strategic judgment to secure its future, and these leaders rose to the occasion. The strength they showed allowed them to prevail.

Today, Israel may be on the verge of sacrificing the essential character that its greatest citizens fought to secure. This is the story of that epic struggle.