During his whirlwind visit to the U.S. which began with a Monday morning meeting with U.S.President Barack Obama, Israel’s Prime Minister took the time to speak to a huge gathering of like-minded Americans at the American Enterprise Institute Monday night, where the Prime Minister was presented with the Irving Kristol Award.
Some Washington insiders said it was the “hottest ticket in town,” and Netanyahu was received, well, if not like a rock star, then like this crowd’s favorite free market economist, which is saying at least as much for AEI types.
The American Enterprise Institute is a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. which focuses on issues of government, politics, economics and social welfare.
The evening started off with a slight misstep when Netanyahu thanked his host interlocutor, AEI’s vice president for foreign and defense policy, Danielle Pletka. Netanyahu interrupted her before she could describe how the evening would proceed, and pointed out that in Israel he does not often receive awards – other than on election day – but certainly not from the media.
Perhaps the Prime Minister was confused, because Kristol ran the conservative intellectual flagship publication, Commentary, for years.
But Pletka, without skipping a beat, deftly folded that possible misstep into her overview of how the evening would proceed.
Pletka pointed out that rather than give a straight speech, Netanyahu was asked to engage in a conversation. She said she was not going to “grill” Netanyahu “Washington style.”
“AEI is not a news organization,” Pletka explained, “We are a think tank and we’re interested in the big questions, and I hope that if we can take something away, it will be some big answers.”
Netanyahu quipped in response: “Well, I hope this catches on! It’s a wonderful idea.”
The questions were open-ended and friendly. Pletka asked Netanyahu to comment on his and Israel’s strong pro-American stance; whether Zionism was still a guiding principle for Israel in this new century; whether there is a competing ideology that can compete with the allure of a single-minded dedication like that of ISIS; whether secular dictators are the solution to the rise of radical Islam; what are the implications for Israel of the ongoing war in Syria; and whether Iran is constrained in any way by the Nuclear Iran Deal.
Pletka gave Netanyahu a wide open freebie at the end of the evening. She jokingly said that although she knows he doesn’t like to talk about it, would he discuss Israel’s economy. Pletka must have thought the Prime Minister would understand she was joking, but he responded with a straight-faced response that he actually really would very much like to discuss that topic.
Duh.
Netanyahu gave a clear, cogent explanation for why it was essential to take Israel from what had been a semi-Socialist economy and liberate it to the wonders of the free market. He tied the economy to Israel’s integrity and security as a nation.
“The first objective we have to further the future of Israel is to make sure the country is strong. Strong militarily, and that’s very expensive. The only way you can safeguard Israel’s future is to have a very vibrant economy. The only way to have a very vibrant economy is to make sure it is a free market.
“In Israel we are harnessing the power of innovation to the power of free markets. If you have intellectual or even technological brilliance, but have no free markets, it’s not going to go anywhere,” Netanyahu explained.
He gave the example of the Former Soviet Union where, “they had incredible metallurgists, incredible scientists, incredible mathematicians, but they were utterly useless” because there was no free market.”
