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Route 60- Abraham's Peace (Part 4) - The Biblical Highway
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00:11It can be said that for everything we wish to learn or want to become, there is a road
00:17to follow.
00:21From the beginning, the road to believing in only one true God, the maker of heaven
00:26and earth, has carved its roots through the ancient land of Israel.
00:32It is a road that Abraham, the father of nations, walked as the first believer in monotheism.
00:40It was along this road that God made his covenant with Abraham, promising that his descendants
00:45would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
00:52It is a road walk by Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.
01:00This road is deeply symbolic in the story of God shared by Jews and Christians.
01:06And it is a literal highway that bisects modern Israel, where it is now known simply as Route
01:1360.
01:19Route 60 follows the ancient path from Nazareth to Beersheba.
01:24It connects many holy sites and biblical events in what could be called the original Bible
01:30belt.
01:32It has mile markers, human and divine, to memorialize the acts of celebration, suffering,
01:39and salvation that are woven into Israel's history.
01:45I'm David Friedman and I invite you to join me and my co-host and fellow traveler, Mike Pompeo,
01:52as we explore the ancient mysteries of Route 60, the biblical highway.
02:01I'm David Friedman and I have heard of Albert Island together.
02:02I love you.
02:02I love you.
02:14I love you.
02:38We pray three times a day on a weekday.
02:43We pray four times a day on a Sabbath or a holiday.
02:49And the main prayer of every session is blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe,
02:57the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
03:07So there's no one prayer that puts together this, it's every prayer that brings together
03:14our connection to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
03:29Behind you are the plains of Mamre where Abraham was sitting in his tent and he was visited by
03:36three angels and he was told of the miracle that awaited him, the birth of his son Isaac
03:44when he was 99 years old, his wife Sarah was already 90.
03:48And the angels came in because Sarah laughed at the prospect of having a baby.
03:52Her son Isaac, Yitzchak, and Abraham means to laugh.
03:57This land was given by Joshua to Caleb, if you remember the story of the spies.
04:04I remember you had a picture of that in your office when you were the ambassador.
04:09Caleb, I was a spy for a little while, as the director of the CIA, I was the chief spy
04:14of
04:14the United States.
04:17Moses sent out the tribes to spy on this land, Ten came back very disheartened, believing
04:24that there was no chance that the Jewish nation could conquer the land.
04:27Joshua and Caleb came back and said, we can do this.
04:31And Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, as an inheritance.
04:38Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite.
04:43To this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.
04:48Joshua 14, verses 13 through 14.
05:08King David, you know, he was anointed king by Samuel right after Samuel stripped the kingship
05:15from Saul, but it wasn't like there was an easy transition.
05:21Saul was the first king, he was still alive, he wasn't relinquishing power.
05:26David was very reluctant to take on Saul, not because he couldn't have.
05:32My eyes spared you, and I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is
05:38the
05:38Lord's anointed.
05:40David to Saul from 1 Samuel 24, verse 10.
05:46And even though David had various opportunities to take Saul's life, he didn't do it.
05:52And when Saul died, David eulogized Saul very, very poetically.
05:59A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel, how the mighty have fallen.
06:04Mountains of Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain.
06:09May no showers fall on your terraced fields.
06:13For there the shield of the mighty was despised.
06:16The shield of Saul.
06:19No longer anointed with oil.
06:25Second Samuel 1, verses 19 and 21.
06:32Took him a while to become king, and then even when he became king, he wasn't the king
06:36of all of Israel, as he hoped to be.
06:38He began by being king, just of the kingdom of Judah, here in Hebron for seven and a half
06:43years.
06:43Now, people say in those seven and a half years, he developed a gravitas by reason of
06:49his proximity to his ancestors, his proximity to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives to
06:56really develop the gravitas to become king of all of Israel.
06:58Then, of course, he came to Jerusalem and united the entire nation.
07:04You know, sometimes these goals take time, you know, on a much more minor, less significant
07:12level.
07:12I came into office, and I wanted very much to move the embassy to Jerusalem immediately.
07:18We talk about this often in our faith, right, in God's time.
07:22I wonder sometimes, could David have just stayed in Hebron?
07:25You know, he was the king of Judah.
07:27Why not just stand here and announce I'm now the king of Israel?
07:31Jerusalem, of course, was the holiest of sights because it was Mount Moriah, where Abraham
07:37passed the test with God to become the father of many nations.
07:41And then you have, you know, what I call the I-95 theory, which is, you know, in America,
07:48you know, they put Washington, D.C. where?
07:52In the middle.
07:52You know, it's just sort of the northern part of the south, southern part of the north.
08:10Sarah lived 127 years.
08:13These were the years of the life of Sarah.
08:17So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
08:23And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah.
08:26And to weep for her.
08:29Genesis 23, verses 1 and 2.
08:37This building, a magnificent building, was built by King Herod, one of the great builders
08:44of ancient times.
08:46As you can see, it's completely intact.
08:48It's magnificent that he built this as a monument to the memory of the patriarchs and the matriarchs.
08:56And unlike all the other things he built, unlike so many things that were built in antiquity,
09:01this one still stands.
09:02And it stands because here there is no dispute.
09:06There is no issue over what happened in this place, which all faiths can embrace and can
09:12appreciate.
09:16Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth.
09:22And he spoke with them, saying,
09:24If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and meet with Ephron,
09:29the
09:29son of Zohar, for me, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which
09:34is at the end of his field.
09:37Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.
09:42Genesis 23, verses 7 through 9.
09:49This is where Isaac and Ishmael ultimately reconcile.
09:53We think of the reconciliation among Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
09:56Isaac, a father of the Jewish nation.
09:59Ishmael, a father of the Arab nations.
10:02And they hadn't gotten along for years.
10:06They carry their father, Abraham, to this burial place, and they reconcile.
10:10And then it took more or less 3,500 years before we got that going again with the Abraham Accords.
10:31On the occasion of your, of both of us having the privilege of rising to visit the cave of Machpelah.
10:46In that honor, with that privilege, may God watch over us and save us from any, any harm.
10:59God should fulfill all of our wishes for good.
11:08In the name and privilege of all of the mothers and fathers, and we will say, Amen.
11:43The floor is the 2,000-year-old original floor of the building.
11:46Herod built this floor.
11:47We're talking about hundreds of tons of stones, and it's still here.
11:52The markers are original to the building.
11:54They are the markers inside the rooms.
11:56But originally, there was no rooms.
11:58It was just markers.
12:01The first person to be buried here is Sally.
12:03So it's very much the tomb of the matriarchs as well.
12:05And this room represents Abraham and Sarah.
12:08And the building didn't have any of these walls.
12:10It just had these markers.
12:11Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, who are buried below the building.
12:15The idea of the building is that it's a tomb complex, that when you come up into the building,
12:19it's as though you're touching the tombs below them.
12:22The building is 2,000 years old.
12:24And you can say it's a building much younger than the tombs, which are 3,800 years old.
12:28King David ruled here 3,000 years ago.
12:30And for the last 2,000 years, this building has served as a prayer site for Jews, Christians,
12:35and Muslims, all of whom want to connect with the path that they bring.
12:51To talk about fathers and mothers, this is the first family of the nation of Israel.
12:56This family made an enormous difference to the people of every faith.
13:01I'm standing here in this holy place, and oddly enough, the thought that comes to my mind is to say,
13:09Mike, you're not in Kansas anymore.
13:10Yeah, so true.
13:12This is...
13:14It's the beginning.
13:15It's where everything began, and it's in such pristine condition.
13:20You know, this is the Abraham and Sarah pavilion.
13:22There is an Isaac and Rebekah pavilion, and a Jacob and Leah.
13:27The Isaac and Rebekah section is used for Muslim prayer.
13:34And Muslims come here every day, and they pray.
13:36And we come here to the Abraham section every day, and we pray.
13:40And Christians come here every day, and they pray.
13:41And this place is the paradigm for religious freedom, for inspiration,
13:48and for everybody recognizing that we all come from a common humanity.
13:56Right where we're standing, just imagine about 3,800 years ago, Abraham passes away.
14:05Now Sarah, behind you, is already buried.
14:07And now Abraham passes away, and his two children, Isaac and Ishmael,
14:12who had been rivals their entire life, they come together.
14:15They bring Abraham's body through here, and then over there to be buried.
14:22I mean, it happened right here.
14:24The reconciliation of those who would ultimately give rise to the Jewish and Arab nation,
14:29Isaac and Ishmael, this is where the first reconciliation of Jews and Arabs occurred.
14:35We did a lot, I think, to bring that forward after far, far too many thousands of years
14:41in abeyance, and too much violence, and too much hatred.
14:44And now we're here in a place that symbolizes all the things that we aspire to,
14:49that we aspire to as diplomats, and as people of faith,
14:52and as human beings who want to see peace exported throughout the world.
14:57I think we're really at ground zero for that.
15:05It reminded me, too, as we were walking up talking about Abraham,
15:07I told you the story that when we were going through the Abraham Accords,
15:10it reminded me of the famous American Abraham, Abraham Lincoln.
15:13They said, I go to my knees to pray because I have nowhere else to turn.
15:19People just get better from being here.
15:21We have to keep working for that day to come.
15:23We have our cousins from across the road that see the world differently,
15:28that think that until every grievance is addressed and remedied,
15:33there can be no progress.
15:35We broke that mold.
15:36And we disproved it.
15:37We disproved it with the Abraham Accords, and we have more work to go.
15:40Because if we can get to the point where this place is open and safe
15:44and accessible to all people, and more and more people can come,
15:48we make the world, I think, a far better place.
15:50Amen.
16:02As the director of the CIA,
16:04we were doing the work to try and understand how to build out
16:10a set of intelligence relationships around the world
16:13so that we had good partners in places like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
16:17and the United Emirates and South Korea.
16:26Because as powerful and as capable and as fine an espionage service as the CIA
16:31as we needed friends and partners,
16:35working with Shin Bet and Mossad were the biggest force multipliers for America.
16:41Not only the work we did to protect Israel and America,
16:44but the work that these two organizations did together to help others all around the world,
16:49in Africa and the Middle East and in Asia,
16:51the CIA and Mossad are a powerful tandem force.
16:55Yossi Cohen of the Jewish faith, me of the Christian faith,
16:58we knew we were both disciplined in our love of God,
17:00and it gave us enormous capacity and trust to work together
17:04on these really important security issues.
17:17Mike, behind this door is the hall of Isaac and Rebecca.
17:25This is the largest of the three halls.
17:28It is reserved for Muslim prayer.
17:31It's now a mosque.
17:32This is a place which elevates faith and prayer and belief in God over petty grievances,
17:38and it is a model for what we can achieve.
17:42It's a model for what we did to some extent achieve,
17:44and it's a model for where we can go.
17:46It's not always locked.
17:48It's something that is opened occasionally.
17:50Jews are allowed to come in here and pray 10 days a year.
17:55When Vice President Pence was here,
17:56they opened up those doors and set out a little pathway for him to come here and see it.
18:01And it reminds me also of what Sheikh Mohammed is building now in Abu Dhabi,
18:08largely as a result of our efforts on the Abraham Accords.
18:11He's building the Abrahamic faith center in Abu Dhabi,
18:15a mosque, a church, and a synagogue.
18:43This is the tombs of Jacob and Leah,
18:46and Jacob, of course, was given the name Israel.
18:49Yeah, it's pretty special.
18:50I'm staring at the monument to Leah.
18:54And, you know, it's sort of bittersweet that Jacob shares eternity with Leah.
18:59She was the mother of most of his children.
19:03She was not the love of his life.
19:05That was Rachel.
19:06Rachel is crying for her children on the road to Bethlehem.
19:10We talked about being in Rachel's tomb and many people there pray for the blessing of having children.
19:16This is a place where you really can think about the continuum of life.
19:34Your children,
19:37your grandchildren,
19:42your descendants will be like the stars in the sky.
19:46Too many to count.
19:52You know,
19:53where you came from,
19:54where you're going.
19:56You know,
19:57I think about my grandparents.
19:58I think about my great-grandparents
20:01who could not have imagined
20:03under any circumstances,
20:04their wildest dreams,
20:06having the opportunity
20:07to come visit the land of Israel.
20:20It was unthinkable to them.
20:24My grandparents,
20:25at the end of their lives,
20:26you know,
20:26fought a ticket on LL
20:28and got here just before they passed away.
20:34To them,
20:35such an extraordinary thing.
20:39That's sort of where we came from.
20:44Now we're here.
20:45We're strong.
20:46We're vibrant.
20:47We're confident.
20:56And now we have to look forward
21:01and keep that going
21:02and keep growing
21:02and keep, you know,
21:04bringing the blessings of God to earth
21:06by following, you know,
21:08His commandments
21:08and following His teachings.
21:09And now we're here.
21:13And now we're here.
21:18And now we're here.
21:25And now we're here.
21:28And now we're here.
21:29And now we're here.
21:29And now we're here.
21:30And now we're here.
21:30And now we're here.
21:31And now we're here.
21:32And now we're here.
21:34And now we're here.
21:35And now we're here.
21:50Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all are deeply connected to Beersheba.
21:57Abraham was here most of his life.
22:02He was a very wealthy man and he had a lot of sheep and he had a lot of property
22:08and he
22:10needed a lot of water.
22:12In this part of the world, water is pretty much the most important commodity.
22:19And his sheep and his shepherds were fighting with the sheep and the shepherds of Javi Melech,
22:25who was the king of the Philistines, not far from here.
22:29When Javi Melech realized who he was dealing with, that he was dealing with a holy man,
22:33an honest man, a man of God, a man of faith, he came to him and said, let's make peace.
22:38And Abraham said, let's make peace.
22:42It is the first of the Abraham Accords.
22:45It's the real Abraham Accord, because it was made by Abraham.
22:50It's not named after Abraham.
22:52This was made by Abraham.
22:56Then Abimelech asked Abraham, what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have sat by
23:01themselves? And he said, you will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that they may be my witness
23:09that I have dug this well. Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them
23:16swore an oath there. Genesis 21 verses 29 and 30.
23:25And Abraham made his agreement with Abimelech that they could all have access to the water and
23:30the wells. The shepherds got along.
23:38Then he went up to Hebron and he passed away. And his children, Isaac and Ishmael,
23:44the fathers of the Jewish and Arab nations reconciled.
23:50Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years,
23:58and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah,
24:06which is before Mamre in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite.
24:12Genesis 25 verses 8 and 9.
24:20Isaac lived here. He also dug a well here. He also replicated his father's treaty with the same king
24:28on the same issues. And Jacob lived here as well. Jacob and Esau met their father Isaac here and they
24:37competed for the birthright. And after Jacob received the birthright from Isaac and Esau wanted to kill him, Jacob fled.
24:48It says in the Torah that Jacob fled from Beersheba and he went to Haran, which is where he met
24:55Rachel and Leah.
25:03We're at a place. It's the end of the road, but it really is, to a certain extent, the beginning
25:08of all the optimism and inspiration that we've derived from this road.
25:15And it's a town of 250,000 people thriving, economically thriving. There's a cyber center.
25:23It's the capital of the Negev. It's very much inside a desert. Everywhere around us is desert.
25:30But they've made it bloom. They've created incredible things here.
25:36They have a world-class university in Ben-Gurion University. They have a medical school.
25:41As you pointed out, Israel has its cyber defense center.
25:46Right alongside it, you have ruins from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
26:11We have this huge continuum, this huge connectivity from here, the southernmost tip of Route 60 in Beersheba.
26:19The northernmost point in Nazareth.
26:26The beginnings of the Jewish nation.
26:33The beginnings of the Christian faith.
26:37The connectivity of all the peoples and all the values.
26:44And all the history that we all cherish and know about and learn about, but almost none of us ever
26:49get to see.
26:55My grandparents survived the Holocaust.
26:58Their siblings did not, and they had a good number of siblings.
27:03There's only one Jewish state. The only real ultimate protection for the Jewish people
27:10against the enemies that it confronts, whether in Asia or the Middle East or elsewhere,
27:15the only real protection is the state of Israel. We use the phrase never again. We keep saying that phrase.
27:21It doesn't mean much outside the state of Israel. It's unrealistic to expect any other nation to
27:28really go to war to save the Jewish people. This country will, and this country will be a haven for
27:32the Jewish people. And there aren't many of us left.
27:49So on a personal level, to me, this is the guarantor. This whole land from here up to the north
27:54and
27:54everywhere in between is the guarantor of the survival of my people, for my children, my grandchildren,
27:59to know that they'll be Jewish. That's personal and means so much to me. But it ought to mean
28:05something to everyone, because the values that come from this land, the values that we all hold
28:14dear, the Judeo-Christian values, this is where they came from. And to really connect with them,
28:21to really regain your, to energize your batteries with regard to these values. You can come here,
28:27you can live it. You can walk the path of our, of our ancestors and feel what they felt and
28:33feel a
28:33closeness to God. You know, we're, we're becoming, in America, very untethered to those values. People
28:43are very confused and they, they have such great thirst for authentic values, things that are real,
28:48things that are permanent, things that are enduring. Well, here's where they all reside.
29:24So,
29:48And of course, you know, if you just care about being safe, which of course we all do,
29:52and you just care about, you know, having a good friend in a dangerous part of the world,
29:57America can't get a better friend than Israel, whether it comes to sharing intelligence or sharing technology
30:02or just standing up for America in a place where very few other countries do.
30:14To build peace, it was my observation that you needed anchor tenants.
30:20You needed the foundation built.
30:22And so today, we've built anchors with the United Arab Emirates, with Bahrain, with Israel and the United States,
30:28then Morocco and Sudan.
30:30I'm counting on those anchor tenants to build out peace throughout this region, throughout the Middle East.
30:44There's a lot of room in the world for more peace, and I pray for every world leader
30:49who's tasked with delivering that for their people, that they will see what was done here,
30:53what's possible here, and build on that in their own particular place and in their own particular way.
30:59This will turn out to be important to everyone, everywhere in the world.
31:04Important not just to governments and governing, but importance to people who I think are just seeking meaning,
31:10they're seeking purpose, they're wondering, you know, what matters anymore?
31:16What counts?
31:17What are we supposed to do?
31:18What should we make of our lives?
31:20People are struggling.
31:25I served as America's Secretary of State for exactly 1,000 days.
31:29I saw a lot of strife, a lot of angst.
31:31I saw people in desperate conditions.
31:33But I also saw hopeful people, people of faith from nearly every religion.
31:38There have been criticisms of organized religion over time that they've caused wars,
31:42that wars have been fought in the name of religion,
31:44that misguided people have used their religion as a basis to commit acts of violence.
31:50I like to think that we took our faith and moved it in the opposite direction.
31:54We moved it in a way that brought more peace to the world,
31:58brought more prosperity, brought more optimism, more respect for human dignity.
32:30Oh, what, what, were you, what was the highlight of this?
32:32the trip the altar of Joshua left a great impression upon me and here's why
32:40Abraham Isaac and Jacob were all of our founders they they belong to all of us
32:48Jacob went down to Egypt and the Jewish people were then forged into a nation
32:53through their collective suffering and slavery and through their redemption by
33:05Moses and then they wandered around in the desert and they were still you know
33:09kind of incomplete as a people Moses brings them up the eastern side of the
33:15Jordan River
33:20Joshua brings them across he immediately begins to get engage in battle first with
33:25Jericho and then with the nation of Ai and then he goes straight and he builds
33:32this altar
33:38and he carves in the altar the Ten Commandments his own set of Ten
33:42Commandments and to me that was the beginning of the Jewish nation
33:49with a leader who understood it wasn't just about being a good general was about
33:53being a good leader and about being a faithful leader about listening to to
33:57God's Commandments about being a Jewish nation
34:02those stones that were put together you know because they were not cut they were
34:08you know kind of wedged together in a in an awkward shape but together those
34:12stones were the first real formation of the Jewish nation
34:24you know I think back to the people in the prayer these people all were committed to God they were
34:29looking to God for their wisdom and it reminds me we all we all live our lives and get awful
34:34busy and it's easy it's easy to get caught up in the moment and think either you're all that or
34:39my goodness how did I get into this horrible place
34:42he is someone who demands that we are beaten but understands when we fail that if we can own that
34:48that we too can still he will forgive our sins you can see these stories play out you can see
34:55the stones you can see the facts
35:03and I pray that we will all do everything that we can to try and honor him in every action
35:09that we take
35:14so Mike uh we're back in Washington we don't work here anymore no it's uh it's great not to work
35:20here
35:20it was lovely working here as well yeah because we were able to do some great things
35:25well God willing uh at least uh in your case I hope I hope you're back I'm not sure I'm
35:30not sure I hope I'm back
35:31but I hope you're back if I come back I'm gonna drag you with me well then I'll come
35:39uh I haven't been back in Washington much I I know you live nearby so for you it's maybe less
35:44of a trip
35:45but um I'm struck by you know well what happened 6,000 miles away from here uh it's it's the
35:53it's the
35:54shortest 6,000 miles I think anywhere in the world Washington DC is really where the battles are won and
35:59lost
35:59yeah and we had some epic battles on important causes certainly the relationship between our two
36:06countries was powerful and important and a lot of that work was done where you were in Israel
36:11but a lot of time you were on the phone talking to folks back here trying to deliver on those
36:15outcomes
36:15communicating to the people of this great nation why what we were working on why this mattered to America
36:22you know and what we did in front of this dome had enormous impact on what happened by the other
36:28dome
36:28we did the work to uh to really solidify our relationship with Jerusalem in particular
36:33not just the state of Israel but the uh the eternal undivided capital of Israel the city of Jerusalem
36:39um Jerusalem of course is known for its dome as well the Jerusalem dome is a little shinier
36:44it's a little uh more dramatic but this isn't bad you know this is a pretty impressive dome too
36:49a little older there have been fights in both places right this one's been burned by the Brits a couple
36:53times
36:54I wish I could say it was it was easy but you know when you're fighting for something you believe
36:59in
36:59when uh in my case when I have when I had all the support that you gave me I had
37:04the support the president gave me
37:06um it was a very big town but at the end of the day if you're working on foreign policy
37:11and you got the support of the president and the secretary of state
37:14um you're way ahead you're in pretty good shape you know the thousands of people who were looking to impose
37:21headwinds on what you're doing you can get a lot done and uh you know I'm very grateful to you
37:25and the president
37:26well I appreciate that
37:35you know I had a nickname in foggy bottom at the state department building it was not my ambassador
37:45I got that name from x Tillerson because whenever I would call him he wouldn't take the call and he
37:50wouldn't call me back
37:50and what I was learning was that when his assistant would say ambassador Freeman's on the phone
37:56his response would be not my ambassador
38:04I got a call from somebody in the state department she says I'm calling at the request of the secretary
38:09okay here's the message don't be so Jewish
38:16I said uh are you kidding me
38:21I said don't be so Jewish you represent the United States of America you don't represent Israel don't be so
38:26Jewish
38:30I said do you think I'm under any misapprehension as to who I represent
38:34do you think that anything I do is not in the best interest of the United States
38:37uh under the direction of the president of the United States
38:40and let me ask you just as long as we're talking
38:43um you know we got African Americans on the African desk
38:46we got Asians on the Asian desk
38:47we got a we got Europeans on the Europe desk
38:50do you call them up and tell them you know don't be so African American don't be so Asian
38:54I mean why am I the only one to whom the laws of political correctness don't apply
39:00she said just a word of advice
39:07you know God gave us the ability to reason
39:09and that ability to reason can accomplish great things
39:12they can achieve medical advances
39:18scientific advances
39:20make the world a much better place
39:22and you could also you know use your power of reason for very bad things
39:25you can rationalize all kinds of malevolent behavior
39:34and so when God gave us the ability to reason
39:36he also gave us you know his word through the Bible
39:41certain things that you can't rationalize
39:43certain things that you can't argue away
39:46the further we go from those values
39:48the more untethered we become from those values
39:51and from the text and from the word of God
39:53the weaker we become as a nation
40:01so my love for Israel really begins the same time I come to love Jesus
40:05right it's the same time I begin to come to know the Bible
40:09and the history of that place
40:10the same time I was studying the wars of 1967 and 1973
40:15when I was a much younger man at West Point as a cadet
40:19they were at the center of a big piece of our military history
40:22they were the last folks who fought a real armored conflict
40:25at that point in time and so as someone who wanted to go to armor branch
40:29I came to know the warrior spirit
40:31the ethos of the Israeli security and military establishment
40:33at the same time I came to appreciate Israel's historic place in my faith as well
40:42when I served on the Benghazi committee
40:44I saw four Americans killed that it didn't have to happen
40:47and I realized the centrality of making sure that we have the right leaders in the right places
40:53so every member of Congress not just those on the intelligence committee or the armed services
40:58every member of Congress has the capacity to make sure that the relationship between the United States and Israel is
41:05strong and deep
41:07In 2015, President Obama was committed to supporting the Iranians by signing a nuclear deal
41:12I had no idea that I would be the Secretary of State when we ultimately withdrew from that
41:17but I tirelessly worked in the summer of 2015
41:20I called almost every member of Congress, 400 plus of my colleagues
41:25to urge them to stop the administration from putting America and Israel at risk
41:30by giving the Iranians hundreds of billions of dollars in money
41:34as they ultimately did, right?
41:35They paid billions of dollars to get a hostage released
41:43So when I became the nominee to be the CIA director
41:46I knew a couple things about what President Trump was going to ask
41:49He was going to ask us to solve the problem in North Korea
41:56and to make sure we solved the problem with the Islamic Republic of Iran
42:03To do the second, I needed a good partner
42:05I knew of the Mossad from my time serving on the House Intelligence Committee
42:09and I knew who Yossi Cohen was, the then director of Mossad
42:13He's a career spy, 38 years, trained professional
42:17and so I literally in my first week at CIA went out to see him
42:20We redirected a bunch of resources
42:22He and I spent a lot of time together thinking strategically
42:26about how we would deliver for his Prime Minister, my President
42:43The Muslim world is a deeply religious world
42:45The arguments that they're used to about Judea and Samaria
42:49are all, you know, geopolitical
42:50You know, and you can debate geopolitics all day long
42:53and nobody ever convinces anybody else
42:55I would sit with them and say, look, you've got to understand something
42:59Shiloh, the Ark of the Covenant, rested there for 369 years
43:05Bethel, the dream of the ladder
43:09Hebron, the burial place of the patriarchs
43:14Shem, where Joseph's bones are buried
43:16where Abraham made his first appearance in the Holy Land
43:20That they understand
43:22That people get, you know, people understand
43:24a religious commitment to a holy place
43:30Before we came along, that's the argument
43:32that sort of got lost in the shuffle
43:35I mean, the Muslim world is nothing if it's not
43:37centered around the Muslim holy sites
43:41Nobody was comfortable enough saying, look, whether you believe it or not
43:44I mean, you may not be a believer, but understand
43:46millions of people do believe in this text
43:49But even if you think it's just a really good book written by a really smart guy
43:52I mean, this is the national identity of the Jewish people
43:56It's the national identity of many of the Christian people
43:58And it matters to us
44:01And on that basis, everybody understands the commitment
44:05And it really reduces, rather than inflames, the tensions
44:10People get it
44:24The historical sweep was always something that was on my mind as well
44:28We inherited lots of history between our two countries
44:31We inherited the history of us recognizing the nation when it was founded
44:35We inherited the history where, for 40 years, folks that were in your position or mine
44:40simply tried to swap deals with terrorists
44:44We took a fundamentally different view where we were going to protect the important things
44:49And in spite of all the noise, in spite of all the messaging from people who didn't want to do
44:56what it was we were working on
44:57We were steadfast, we were incredibly resolved
44:59And I think we understood the essays and the importance and the history of what we were working on
45:05The things that we did, whether it's Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria
45:12You know, I can't vouch for what politicians will do
45:16But I got the sense, they really have staying power
45:19That we demonstrated to very, very skeptical people
45:22That these were the right moves
45:24And now, maybe begrudgingly
45:26Maybe, you know, very begrudgingly
45:28Because they didn't do it, and we did
45:30They're starting to acknowledge that that was the right path for America
45:33And for peace in the Middle East
45:35You can see it too
45:36Yeah
45:37You can see that these weren't just theories
45:39These weren't just what Mike and David dreamed up
45:42Yeah
45:42These were policies that make life better
45:45Less better for the people of Israel of every faith
45:48Life better for the people who were living in Judea and Samaria
45:51These are policies that delivered good outcomes
45:53They kept America safer and more secure
45:56And I think that's why you're now seeing this administration
45:59They may mouth to parts of their party certain things
46:02But they understand that the trajectory that we laid down
46:05Along with some great leaders in Israel
46:07And more broadly in the Middle East as well
46:10Some great leaders laid down a pathway
46:12Towards a more prosperous, more secure place
46:14For the Jewish homeland
46:17In the end, we persevered
46:19On a path that was righteous and decent
46:21And led to really remarkable outcomes
46:26I'm so proud of this project
46:28I think we delivered something to an audience that is deeply meaningful and important
46:36You know, this is the biblical heartland of Israel
46:39This is where the Bible took place
46:40And they should just enjoy it and be inspired by it
46:45It was hard work, it took lots of effort
46:48I think it reminds us that faith is always hard work
46:51That none of this comes easy
46:53And you have to be determined and resolved
46:55And if you stay at it, good things will happen
46:57And as I reflect on the work that we did
46:59I'm proud of what we have now been able to present
47:02And I hope people will watch this for years to come
47:04And appreciate it and take away lots
47:07And pass it on to their children as well
47:16It can be said that for everything we wish to learn or want to become
47:21There is a road to follow
47:25From the beginning, the road to believing in only one true God
47:29The maker of heaven and earth
47:32Has carved its root through the ancient land of Israel
47:39And for centuries, travelers on this road have heard the call
47:44Build your life on truth
47:46Build your life on faith
47:49Build your life with the purpose of knowing God
47:55This is eternal life
47:57That they may know you, the only true God
48:00And Jesus Christ, whom you have sent
48:04This verse from the Gospel of John
48:06Does not define eternal life simply as living forever
48:11Instead, it affirms that knowing the one true God
48:14In this life, is the path to eternal life
48:23This particular distinction reminds us
48:26That Jesus was born a Jew
48:31In Jewish teaching, Chaye Sha'a
48:34Is a fleeting life
48:36Focused on temporary matters
48:38Relating to our earthly existence
48:44In contrast, Chaye Olam
48:47Is an eternal life
48:51One focused on matters of eternal importance
48:55The foundations of Judeo-Christian values
48:59The foundations of Judeo-Christian values
49:04It is a nation
49:07A people
49:09A family
49:11A person
49:14Building a life that is truly life
49:21Along this road you are traveling
49:24May the Lord bless you and keep you
49:28May the Lord cause his countenance to shine upon you
49:32And be gracious unto you
49:35And may the Lord lift his divine presence unto you
49:39And grant you peace
49:48Thank you for joining us on Route 60, the Biblical Highway
49:52Shalom
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