SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER HEBREW UNIVERSITY, JERUSALEM 28 JANUARY 1987 To BE GRANTED THE DEGREE OF DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY HONORIS CAUSA–BY-T-I-S-GREAT-UN. IVER. SLTY IS__ NE OF THE HIGHEST HONOURS ISRAEL CAN OFFER, AND I FEEL DEEPLY HUMBLED BY YOUR GENEROSITY. I i-S NOW NEAR LY SEVENTY -YEARS-SI NCE-THE-UN IVERSI TY-S-TWEVEFOUNDATION STONES, REPRESENTING THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, WERE LAID HERE AT MT SCOPUS, SIGNALLING THE START OF THE GREAT ACADEMIC VENTURE OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY. BACK IN 1918, THE STATE OF ISRAEL WAS STILL A DREAM, SO THE DECISION TO LAY THOSE FOUNDATION STONES AND ESTABLISH A UNIVERSITY FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE REQUIRED FORESIGHT, PERSISTENCE AND COURAGE. IT DOUBTLESS HAD ITS CRITICS THOSE WHO FELT THAT, IN 1918, WITH SO MUCH ELSE STILL TO DO, A UNIVERSITY WAS NOT NEEDED. BUT AT THAT FOUNDATION CEREMONY NEARLY SEVEN DECADES AGO, DR CHAIM WEIZMANN WHO WAS TO BECOME THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE-STATE OF ISRAEL, EXPLAINED WHY . HE BELIEVED-HEBREW UNIVERSITY WAS SUCH AN IMPORTANT PRIORITY FOR THE TIME. S
” IT IS TRUE THAT GREAT SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROBLEMS STILL FACE US AND DEMAND THEIR SOLUTION FROM US”, DR WEIZMANN SAID. ” WE JEWS KNOW, HOWEVER, THAT WHEN OUR MIND IS GIVEN FULL PLAY, WHEN WE HAVE A CENTRE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF J-EWI-SH-CONSC-I-OU SNESS–THEN-CG-NC-ID EN-TALLY-WE-ATTAI-N—– THE FULFILLMENT OF OUR MATERIAL NEEDS”. DR-IEIZMANNSS’ WORDS IMPLIED A SYMBIOSIS EXISTED BETWEEN THIS INSTITUTION AND THE WHOLE JEWISH PEOPLE. AND LOOKING BACK OVER THE LONG AND SUCCESSFUL HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY WHO CAN GAINSAY HIS VISION? THE GROWTH OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY HAS INDEED EXEMPLIFIED MUCH THAT IS SO GREAT AND MUCH THAT IS SO TRAGIC ABOUT THE STRUGGLE AND ACHIEVEMENT OF JEWS IN CREATING THE STATE OF ISRAEL. THROUGH MANY DIFFICULTIES, THAT YOU KNOW BETTER THAN I, HEBREW UNIVERSITY HAS SURVIVED AND PROSPERED LIKE ISRAEL ITSELF. YOU ARE INDEED, IN DR WEIZMANN’S WORDS, A ” CENTRE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF JEWISH CONSCIOUSNESS”, AND YOUR ACADEMIC STRENGTHS, RANGING ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF THE SCIENCES, THE PROFESSIONS AND THE HUMANITIES, ARE MAKING AN INVALUABLE -CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNDERSTANDING-AND-GROWTH-OF -THE-ISRAELI–COMMUN. IT W7 W
BUT YOU ARE MORE THAN THAT TOO. HEBREW UNIVERSITY IS NOT JUST AN ISRAELI UNIVERSITY BUT, INCREASINGLY. ONE WITH A PERSPECTIVE ON THE WHOLE MIDDLE EASTERN REGION. A STRIKING FEATURE OF YOUR SUCCESS HAS BEEN THAT YOU ARE NOT ONLY GUIDING THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISRAEL BUT ALS-ENGAGING IN THE EXCHARGE OF-I-DEAS-WI-TH-ACADEMICS THROUGHOUT THE REGION AND INDEED, THROUGH THE WORLD. YOUR SYLLABUS COVERS NOT JUST JEWISH STUDIES BUT MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES AS A WHOLE, AND YOUR INTELLECTUAL BREADTH IS MATCHED BY THE DIVERSITY OF YOUR STUDENT BODY. IT IS A PARTICULAR SOURCE OF PRIDE TO ME AS THE PRIME MINISTEROF AUSTRALIA THAT AUSTRALIANS HAVE BEEN SO CLOSELY LINKED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS INSTITUTION. THE AUSTRALIAN FRIENDS OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1936, ONLY EIGHT YEARS AFTER THE FIRST STUDENTS WERE ADMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY$ ITS NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS INCLUDE THE BLANKFIELD POLITICAL SCIENCE BUILDING, THE TWO SIR ZELMAN COWEN FUNDS FOR ACADEMIC EXCHANGES, THE AUSTRALIA HOUSE DORMITORY AN DI AM. DELIGHTED . O SAY, THE BOB HAWKE MEDICAL RESEARCH ENDOWMENT WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1977.
THE GOLDA MEIR FELLOWSHIP FUND, A SCHEME WHICH HONOURS A GREAT LABOR LEADER AND A GREAT WOMAN, HAS BEEN HEAVILY SUPPORTED BY AUSTRALIAN CONTRIBUTORS AND ONE AUSTRALIAN HAS ALREADY WON A FELLOWSHIP. I HAD THE PLEASURE OF INAUGURATING THE GOLDA MEIR FUND IN AUSTRALIA LAST YEAR. FOUR AUSTRALIAN ACADEMICS ARE CURRENTLY TEACHERS AT THIS UNLVERS. LTYAND A-NUMBER–OF-YOUNG-AUSTRALIANS–1-4CLUD-ING-A——– GROUP OF NURSES, IS STUDYING HERE. AT THE SAME TIME, THREE OF YOUR TEACHING STAFF ARE ON STUDY LEAVE IN AUSTRALIA. THREE AUSTRALIANS ARE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY BEREL GINGES, ISADOR MAGID AND ISRAEL BLANKFIELD, AND, AS IF THIS LIST WERE NOT ENOUGH, SiR ZELMAN COWAN, THE DISTINGUISHED AUSTRALIAN LAWYER, AND OUR FORMER GOVERNOR-GENERAL, IS AN ACADEMIC GOVERNOR OF-THE UNIVERSITY. SIR ZELMAN, WHO IS NOW PROVOST OF ORIEL COLLEGE AT OXFORD, WAS BEFORE TODAY THE ONLY AUSTRALIAN HONOURED BY YOU AS RECIPIENT OF AN HONORARY DOCTORATE, THAT LIST OF AUSTRALIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO AND BENEFICIARIES OF THIS UNIVERSITY IS EXTENSIVE AND IMPRESSIVE. BUT ON REFLECTION IT APPEARS ENTIRELY REASONABLE THAT WE AS A NATION SHOULD BE SO CLOSE TO YOU. FOR THE AUSTRALIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY HAS. A _ R. ICH_ AND.-GLITIERING INTELLECTUAL LIFE. SINCE THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT OF AUSTRALIA BEGAN NEARLY TWO CENTURIES AGO, IN 1788, JEWISH ACADEMICS, WRITERS, ARTISTS AND COMPOSERS HAVE BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF OUR NATIONAL ENDEAVOUR.
AUSTRALIA HAS CALLED UPON JEWS TO BE HEAD OF ITS ARMED FORCES, HEAD OF ITS JUDICIARY AND, TWICE, HEAD OF STATE. BUT TODAY I CANNOT LET PASS THE OPPORTUNITY TO NAME ONE MAN WHOSE INTELLECTUAL BRILLIANCE AND UNQUENCHABLE INTEGRITY EPITOMISES THE LASTING JEWISH IMPACT ON AUSTRALIAN LIFE. JUL-US-STNEjjURIST, TEACHER, PUBLICIST, INTERNATIONALIST, WAS A MAN WHOM I NOT ONLY-RESPECTED -AS–AN-INTELLECTUAL HAD THE HONOUR TO KNOW AND LOVE AS A FRIEND. JULIUS STONE DIED IN SEPTEMBER 1984 AT THE AGE OF 77 BUT HIS ACHIEVEMENTS SURVIVE BOTH IN HIS WRITTEN WORK AND IN THE WISDOM HE PASSED ON TO HIS STUDENTS, THERE ARE SOMESPECIAL LINKS BETWEEN JULIUS STONE AND THIS UNIVERSITY WHICH I WANT TO MENTION, -JULIUS WAS AN ACADEMIC DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF YOUR TRUMAN CENTRE FOR’THE ADVANCEMENT OF PEACE, AND THERE IS AN ENDOWMENT TO ESTABLISHWT’THIS UNIVERSITY A JULIUS AND RECA STONE SCHOLARSHIP HERE, WHICH WOULD CERTAINLY BE A FITTING MEMORIAL. IT IS A PARTICULAR JOY TO MENTION TOO, THAT JULIUS’ SON MICHAEL IS YOUR PROFESSOR OF ARMENIAN STUDIES, So THE BONDS WHICH LINK AUSTRALIA TO THIS CAMPUS ARE STRONG AND GROWING STRONGER,
fRST AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT ISRAEL I AM HAT YOU CHOSE ME AS THE RECIPIENT OF AN HONORARY E PARTICULARLY AS YOU HAD ALREADY AWARDED ME AN HONORARY FELLOWSHIP OF THE UNIVERSITY IN FEBRUARY 1978 WHEN 1 WAS PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS. THIS IS NOT OF COURSE THE FIRST TIME I HAVE MADE THE JOURNEY TO TH-I-S-C-OUNTRY.–BUT-W-I-TH-EV-ERY-V-S-I-T-I AM-IMPRE-SS-ED-ANEW-BY– IT, ENTHUSED BY YOUR ENTHUSIASM, STUNNED BY YOUR RESILENCE AND MOVED BY YOUR STRUGGLE. MY RESPONSE WAS, IN PART, THE HUMAN RESPONSE TO THE GREAT DRAMA OF THE FOUNDATION AND GROWTH OF ISRAEL ON THE ASHES OF THE HOLOCAUST. BUT I WAS IMPRESSED TOO FOR A NUMBER OF. SPECIFICALLY AUSTRALIAN REASONS. AS A MEMBER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY,-I COULD NOT-FAIL TO BE IMPRESSED BY THE ELECTORAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUCCESS OF YOUR LABOR PARTY. WHEN I FIRST VISITED ISRAEL, IN 1971, LABOR HAD BEEN IN POWER HERE FOR MORE THAN IqENTY YEARS ABOUT THE SAME NUMBER OF YEARS AS WE IN AUSTRALIA HAD ENDURED OF CONSERVATIVE RULE. As A TRADE UNION LEADER,-I -COULD NOT-. FAIL TO ADMIRE–THE-ISRAELITRADE UNION MOVEMENT, WITH ITS TOTAL COMMITMENT TO THE ISRAELI PEOPLE, AND ITS THOROUGH ACCEPTANCE BY THEM.
CERTAINLY, AS LEADER OF AN AUSTRALIAN TRADE UNION MOVEMENT WHICH WAS AT THE TIME NOT ONLY EXCLUDED FROM THE FORUMS OF DECISION MAKING BUT NOT INFREQUENTLY VILIFIED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY, THE HISTADRUT MADE A LASTING IMPRESSION ON ME. As A SOCIAL DEMOCRAT VISITING ISRAEL IN 1971, I COULD NOT FAIL TO RESPECT THE SUCCESSFUL WAY IN WHICH YOU HAD INCARNATED THE VISION OF DAVID BEN GURION OF A-WORKIN G-CLASS BUILDING -ITS OWN-NATION BY DI-INT–OF-I-TS-OWN PHYSICAL_. AND_ INTELLECTUAL. BUT TO DISCOVER THESE THINGS ABOUT ISRAELI POLITICS AND TRADE UNIONS WAS TO CONFRONT AN EVEN MORE FUNDAMENTAL INSPIRATION OF YOUR CIVIC LIFE: ISRAEL IS A DEMOCRACY, PROUDLY AND INCESSANTLY ENGAGED IN DEMOCRATIC DISPUTATION ABOUT EVERY ASPECT OF NATIONAL POLICY. YOUR KNESSET WHICH I VISITED YESTERDAY, IS ONE OF THE GREAT DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS. YOUR PRESS IS AS UNFETTERED AS ANY IN THE WORLD. AND YOUR SOCIETY IS AS RESILIENT AS ANY IN ACCOMMODATING THE FREQUENTLY UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS WHICH A FREE PRESS MUST ASK. THESE ARE FEATURES OF YOUR LIFE WHICH YOU HAVE NEVER SURRENDERED, EVEN IN THE DARKEST MOMENTS WHEN YOUR VERY SURVIVAL WAS AT RISK.
W. I SAY ALL OF THIS TO UNDERLINE WHAT MUST ALREADY BE APPARENT TO YOU: I RESPECT THIS COUNTRY AND FEEL CONSTANTLY REFRESHED AND CHALLENGED BY IT. BUT I DON’T WANT MY PRAISE TO BE MISUNDERSTOOD. I DO NOT WANT TO BREED COMPLACENCY ABOUT YOUR VIGOROUS AND EGALITARIAN DEMOC-RAC-Y -NOR–FOR-THAT-MAT-TER–DO–4-WANT–N-RA-S1-NG-T4I SUNIVERSITY TO SUGGEST THAT ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE DOES NOT NEED TO BE CONSTANTLY AND VIGILANTLY PROTECTED. I DO NOT WNAT MY THEME TODAY TO BE THAT OF PANGLOSS: THAT EVERYTHING IN ISRAEL IS ” FOR THE BEST IN THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS”, IT IS FINE TO RECALL THE GREAT EARLY DAYS OF YOUR NATION, AND TO REFLECT ON THE GLORIOUS PRINCIPLES ON WHICH IT WAS FOUNDED. BUT IT IS NECESSARY TOO, I THINK TO-TAKE THE MEASURE OF-THE CHANGES WHICH SEPARATE THOSE EARLY DAYS FROM THIS DIFFERENT WORLD IN 1987. THE OLD GENERATION OF PIONEERS HAS, SADLY, LARGELY PASSED ON. ISRAEL IS CHANGING AND MATURING AND IS CONFRONTING TROUBLING AND PROFOUND ISSUES OF WHICH THOSE PIONEERS KNEW LITTLE OR NOTHING. LET ME NAME A FEW OF THOSE ISSUES.
HOW WILL ISRAEL SOLVE THE GREAT ISSUES OF POLITICAL PRINCIPLE AND HUMAN RIGHTS, NOT TO MENTION THE DEMOGRAPHIC PRESSURES, ENTAILED IN ITS ROLE AS ADMINISTRATOR OF OCCUPIED TERRITORIES? WHAT CAN ISRAEL DO TO ENSURE THAT OVERSEAS JEWS SEEKING EMIGRATION HERE SUCH AS SOVIET JEWS CAN IN FACT REACH THEIR PROMISED LAND? How CAN ISRAEL BEST BUILD ON THE SUCCESS -OF -THE-CAMP-DAVID AGREEMENT TO ENSURE PEACE _ WITH ALL-_ ITS ARABNEIGHBOURSWITHIN SECURE BOUNDARIES? How CAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL PARTIES CONTINUE TO REPRESENT THE PEOPLE AND EFFICIENTLY MANAGE THE STATE? THESE ARE NOT EASY QUESTIONS, BUT I-RAISE-THEM AS A-FRIEND WHO ISFULLY AWARE THAT AUSTRALIANS WOULD HAVE DIFFICULTY PROVIDING SUITABLE ANSWERS TO COMPARABLE QUEST-IONS POSED ABOUT THEIR SOCIETY. BUT THE QUESTIONS MUST BE ASKED, AND THEY CANNOT BE IGNORED. HAVING HAD THE TEMERITY TO RAISE THESE-ISSUES WITH YOU IN SUCH . OUTLINE FASHION, FORGIVE ME NOW IF I HAVE THE PRESUMPTION EQUALLY BRIEFLY TO SUGGEST WHERE ANSWERS MAY LIE. -FOR I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT SATISFACTORY ANSWERS CAN AND WILL BE FOUND.
THE ANSWERS I BELIEVE LIE HERE, DEEP IN THE ROOTS OF THAT JEWISH CONSCIOUSNESS OF WHICH DR WEIZMANN SPOKE. THE RESOLUTION OF THESE ISSUES IS A TASK WHICH FIRST, WILL REQUIRE THE PATIENT AND STEADY APPLICATION BOTH OF THE KIND OF VISION WHICH LED TO THE FOUNDATION OF THIS UNIVERSITY, AND OF THE INTELLECTUAL PRBII-G-AND-PROITYCWTHAS-1ADE-IT A GREAT -UNIVERSITYSECONDLY, ON A MORE GENERAL PLANE, I BELIEVE THE ANSWERS TO THE PROBLEMS OF TODAY’S ISRAEL LIE IN KEEPING ALIVE AND APPLYING ANEW THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THE STATE WAS ORIGINALLY FOUNDED. THESE PRINCIPLES EGALITARIANISM, THE DIGNITY OF LABOR, DEVOTION TO A JEWISH HOMELAND, AND UNDURINGLY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT PROVIDE A SOUND PATH FROM YOUR PAST._ TO. YOUR FUTURE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN IN LOOKING BACK TO THE ROOTS OF THIS UNIVERSITY AND THIS NATION, ONE CANNOT FAIL TO ENCOUNTER THE GIGANTIC PRESENCE OF ALBERT EINSTEIN. EINSTEIN OF. COURSE WAS CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH THE EARLY-DAYS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY. ALONG WITH SIGMUND FREUD, MARTIN BAbER, CHAIM WEIZMANN AND OTHERS HE WAS A MEMBER OFTHE FIRST BOARDOF GOVERNORS. ONE WONDERS, IN PASSING, WHAT BRILLIANT CONVERSATIONS THOSE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMENT MIGHT HAVE HAD AT THEIR BOARD MEETINGS!
EINSTEIN HAD A CLEAR VISION OF THE ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE WORLD AND I CAN DO NO BETTER TODAY THAN TO CONCLUDE WITH HIS WORDS. FOR I BELIEVE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN IN NO DOUBT ABOUT THE INSPIRATION PROVIDED BY THESE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THE ISRAELI STATE WAS FOUNDED. ” ISHOULD LIKE TO EXPRESSTHHOEINENSAD ” THAT-TEACHER-S—AND STUDENTS-WILL ALWAYS PRESERVE THE CONSCIOUSNESS THAT THEY SERVE THEIR PEOPLE BEST WHEN THEY MAINTAIN ITS UNION WITH HUMANITY AND WITH THE HIGHEST HUMAN VALUES. ” IN THE COURSE OF TIME THIS INSTITUTION WILL DEMONSTRATE WITH THE GREATEST CLEARNESS THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF WHICH THE JEWISH SPIRIT I-S CAPABLE”. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THEY WERE PROPHETIC WORDS. THROUGH-YOUR EFFORTS THEY ARE BEING FULFILLED EVERY DAY. THANK YOU
