Pres. Katsav's Journey to America: The Triangular Complex

by Gad Nahshon

Recently, Moshe Katsav and his wife Gila toured this country. Moshe Katsav visited this country as the 8th president of Israel. It was his first visit, an official visit as a president. Moshe Katsav is a new popular president. He sees himself as the 'people's president.' He does not belong to any elite. He was a distinguished Likud politician for many years. He came from Iran and tasted the life of poverty. But he managed to study and became a mayor of Kiriat-Malachy at the age of 26! Later, ex-prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, appointed him as a Labor minister. Katsav was a political disciple of Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir.

It is not an accident that Moshe Katsav was a natural messenger of the people of Israel in the U.S. Katsav expressed in his June visit the cry-out and pain of the Israeli society. He expressed the non-stop suffering of Israel, a country with a quest for peace, a country which has been tortured by waves of terrorism. Katsav turned out to be the main spokesman of Israel. The massacre at the Tel-Aviv's Dolfinariam which shocked Israel and the entire world gave Katsav the opportunity to express the message of Israel. The world was shocked by the barbarian attacks of the P.L.O. on Israeli children. Katsav pointed out time and again in his meeting with the media and with many officials and celebrities that the P.L.O. targeted women and children. Perhaps the murderers also targeted Russian Olim in order to scare potential Olim from making aliyah! Perhaps the Arabs and the Palestinians are also managing a demographic war or a population war of attrition!

But the major contribution of Moshe Katsav, a balanced soft-spoken national leader to Israel's future well-being, was the effort to make the Triangular Complex, or the web of relations, linkages of Israel, the U.S. and the American Jewish community, much stronger. He met President Bush, Secretary Colin Powell, senators and congressmen, he met Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, he met Governor Pataki, and of course, Mayor Rudi Giuliani. Katsav had a very busy visit. He also went to the U.N. in order to meet secretary Kofi Annan. By the way, he was always assisted by Israel's diplomats Alon Pinkas and Dr. Yehuda Lancry, to mention a few.

Katsav was honored with an Honorary Doctorate by two universities. He and his wife Gila visited schools and synagogues and many friends and admirers came to express their love to the Israeli new Presidential couple.

All the efforts of Moshe Katsav were to increase the linkage between Israel and America, especially when Israel was in an emergency situation, under a national trauma: should the country behave like a beast, like the P.L.O. and its collaborators? Should Israel respond with a total barbaric war? Katsav, an experienced leader, does understand the value of the Triangular Complex. Like everyone else, he was shocked by the Dolfinariam Massacre. The massacre of 20 young people, most of them girls, took place on Friday the first of June. On Saturday, June 2, 9:30 at night, Katsav met the press on the fourth floor of the Waldorf Astoria: "I told President Bush that Arafat gave a promise to Yitzhak Rabin to stop violence but never fulfilled it. Arafat gave in to terror. The international community must understand that we should not legitimize terrorism. Arafat must disconnect himself from the terrorists. Since I left Israel, 34 Israelis were killed. Arafat said that he will call for a cease fire. But we must see actions. If not we will face a disaster," said Katsav, who was surrounded by many secret agents.

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