Representative Steve Israel, a Democrat who represents New York’s second district and sits on the House Appropriations Committee, spoke to GW students Wednesday night about the future of energy, the middle east, and politics.
“We have a commonality in what happens in the future,” he said. “We have been given an opportunity to do more for this planet than any other generation in history. The fact that you’re here tonight gives me a lot of hope for the future.”
According to Israel, this future requires a transformation of the way America produces and consumes energy, not only because it would “unleash a whole new generation of jobs,” but also because America’s dependence on foreign oil is a national security risk.
“We borrow money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to fuel our tanks and planes and boats to protect us against China and the Persian Gulf,” he said. “That doesn’t make much sense.”
America’s dependence on foreign oil is also a threat because Israel considers Iran, the fourth largest exporter of crude oil, to be “the single greatest threat in the Middle East.” Israel said that the US needs to rid itself of foreign oil because if Iran were to stop crude oil flow out of its borders, “the price of gas would hit $14 overnight.”
Israel expressed optimism about the December UN environmental conference in Copenhagen on the grounds that “China and India have both realized that the current paradigm has not been working for them.”
Turning to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel asserted that the problem was “generational,” because Palestinian children are being educated in an anti-Israeli way.
“We believe that negotiating at high-altitude diplomatic positions will make a difference, but if we don’t reform the curricular and education for Palestinian children, all the peace treaties in the world won’t make a difference,” he said.
Speaking of the previous day’s elections, Israel – who was allegedly a key player in getting Republican dropout Dede Scozzafava to endorse Democrat Bill Owens over conservative candidate Doug Hoffman – said that “in a challenging environment, we actually added a Democrat to the House of Representatives… In the one federal election that mattered, we won.”
Saying that he “loves moderate Republicans, all two of them,” Israel noted that “the tea party has taken over the Republican party… they have hijacked the party to the right; they will not be able to sustain themselves in most future elections.”
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