Israeli FM Tzipi Livni had to back out, apparently-no word on why. They sent the Minister to the Diaspora, Itzhak Herzog, instead who, IMO gave a relatively droll speech that expressed little of significance other than an unexpected pronouncement that he has great hope in the upcoming Annapolis conference, and that he belives it will restart the long-stalled peace process.
He was followed by a chayelette who told us that the IDF’s equivalent of the GI Bill has provided her with an unparalleled opportunity to get an education she didn’t think she’d ever get. Not to be curt, but had she immigrated anywhere in the EU, she would’ve gotten a free education without having to spend 5 years fetching an officer coffee.
The session closed with YU’s Rav JJ Shachter, the scholar in residence and keynote of keynotes, who led some loynin’ on Avraham Avienu’s relationship with his son Yishmael as a commentary on the unaffiliated.
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