Aaron David Miller

The Germans imposed a partial arms embargo, and yet they're buying $4 billion of aero defense systems from the Israelis.

So Israel's brand and the impact of what the Israelis have done in Gaza

That issue is going to reverberate for years.

And whether Israel's brand can be reconstituted will depend almost completely, I think, on whether or not you can actually have a new generation of Israeli leaders that will emerge.

I can't.

Let me sum it up.

Jack Kennedy described himself as an idealist without illusion.

That's where I am.

And frankly, that's where I think anybody interested seriously in working on this issue needs to be.

If you only accept things the way the world is, things never change.

And if you only accept things the way you want them to be, you're going to fail.

It is the balance...

between the world the way it is and the aspirations of what we want for a better world, better America, conflict-ending solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That's where we need to be.

And you give me, Dave, you give me the leaders.

leaders who are masters of their political constituencies, not prisoners of their ideologies, leaders who are willing to recognize that not only do their own needs need to be requited, but the needs and requirements of others.

You give me those two leaders, and you give me an American mediator who's prepared to apply a lot of honey and a lot of vinegar, and I'll give you a chance, a serious chance—

to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Dave, it was great.