Excellent link. It's too bad Israel doesn't have anyone who can speak as eloquently as Abba Eban to state their case to the world. It may not change positions of those who are going to hate Israel anyway, but maybe could help with the fence sitters.

I was at a presentation this weekend by a group called bluestarPR, working on Israel's public relations issues, especially in relation to college campuses. On some campuses, Israel supporters are in an extremely hostile environment. Though coming from a liberal approach, this actually makes sense, since they are trying to influence and change perceptions of liberals, letting them see that typical Israelis are like them. I'm going to put a link here if that's okay, (if not feel free to remove it) because I think they are doing good work.
http://www.bluestarpr.com/

He didn't seem that much more articulate than anybody is today, or wiser frankly. But he was unapologetic in his love for his people, which would be considered chauvinism now. And optimistic. If I can borrow a phrase, he had a 'yes we can' attitude. I'd like to see more of that kind of self confidence from from Israeli spokespeople and leaders.

Don't get me wrong. I like Gillerman and I like Livni. And both have to do their work before a world that really doesn't give a damn either way and is willing to be led along by a completely one-sided press, all of which has to be dispiriting. But a little 'yes we can' wouldn't hurt.

The show was a nice blast from the past -- fewer commercials and only one at each 60-second commercial break. That was before we all had ADD.

Calling the filter "Hi-Fi" was Parliament hitching their wagon to the star of new-fangled audio gear that sounded good -- equipment that reproduced sound with a high fidelity to the audio source. (Stereo was still a few years off.)

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. In the half-century since the interview, the union of Egypt and Syria fell apart (Quel surprise!), the Arabs have given up on pan-Arabism and they've hijacked the term "Palestinian" that used to refer to the Jews in Palestine. They now pretend a distinct nationhood and call themselves by the P. word. The Arabs didn't use the mendacious term "illegal occupation" back then. But otherwise their rhetoric is the same. It's all Israel's fault, Israel is an expansive territorial threat, etc.

It's too bad that in talking about Israel's population growth, Abba Eben didn't talk about the absorption of the forgotten refugees, Israel's taking in the between 750,000 and 1,000,000 Jews expelled from Arab and Muslim countries.