On October 13, 2003, Morrie Amitay chaired the second day of the three day conference in Jerusalem called The Jerusalem Summit.

These are his remarks to the opening session:

I am delighted and honored to chair the second day of our Jerusalem Summit.

Today’s subject is – Israel Endangered: A Threat to the Free World.  We have brought together some real experts and people who have studied and thought about the Arab-Israeli conflict for many years.  And most importantly, they have reached conclusions as to how this ongoing war – and it is a war - could and should be resolved.

What happens here in Israel in the next few months and years goes far beyond Israel’s struggle against Palestinian terrorism.  It will have ramifications that extend far beyond this tiny area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan - and far beyond the Middle East.  The war against terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism – has become a worldwide battle.  The struggle against the terror masters – as my good friend Michael Ledeen calls them – is taking place every day.  Here in the streets of Jerusalem, along the roads in Yesha, and tragically in the restaurants and shopping malls of Haifa and Netanya.  It is a war that is being fought in Jenin, Gaza, and Hebron.  But to win this war - it must also reach into the entire Muslim world – to Iran, to Syria, and to Saudi Arabia – a true Axis of Evil.  Israel cannot win this war alone.  And we can be thankful that despite receiving bad advice from the State Department my President is on the right track.

President Bush had it exactly right after the raid on the terrorist camp in Syria when he said “Israel’s got a right to defend herself, Israel must not feel constrained in defending the homeland”. 

This is surely not a time for “constraint” or for the restraint the UN always calls for after another atrocity perpetrated against Jews.

Israel’s fight against the terrorists is no different than the fight American soldiers are waging against the terrorists in Najaf, Fallujah, and Tikrit and in hunting down the Al-Qaeda murderers who planned 9/11.  Some still maintain, even here in Israel, that there can be no military solution to this conflict.  But while we all want peace – there are times when there is no alternative to the use of force.  There have already been too many victims of diplomacy.  There is no substitute for the total defeat of a cruel enemy who follows no norms of civilized behavior – and who interprets concessions as weakness.

Around the world there is insufficient understanding of the threat of militant Islam or of Israel’s geopolitical reality.

If forced back to its pre-1967 borders, Israel would be some 8,000 square miles - the size of New Jersey.  How could it be expected to defend itself – with neighbors such as Egypt – armed to the teeth with the latest U.S. weapons; Syria –with almost 400,000 regulars and in control of Lebanon; and Iran with its ongoing development of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems.  If you add to this mix the establishment of an irredentist sovereign Palestinian state with a border only 9 miles from the sea - you have an invitation to disaster for Israel.  Given these realities, it is fair to ask, given the track record of Yassir Arafat and the PLO whether the creation of yet another authoritarian terrorist-led state in the Middle East serves the interest of the world’s democracies, much less of peace?

There are still those who deny that there is a clash of civilizations.  They either have no understanding of radical Islam or choose to ignore it.  Militant Islam seeks to impose its will on all unbelievers.  Their leaders say it openly - and we should take them at their word.

We already have seen since Oslo what years of concessions to terrorists have brought.  We have witnessed the utter futility of demonstrating good will and peaceful intentions to those who simply want you to disappear.  This is the ugly truth.  At this point the formula of “land for peace” is a cruel joke on the families of the victims of the terrorists.  Today we will not only learn about the nature of the threat, but how to meet it – directly, and without illusions!