Part 1: Interview with Legendary Freedom Fighter Natan Sharansky — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00back in 2004 Ambassador Ron durmer who
2. 0:03you just saw co-authored a best-selling
3. 0:06book called the case for democracy his
4. 0:09co-author was none other than the
5. 0:11legendary Soviet dissident and freedom
6. 0:13fighter Natan shansky Mr sharansky spent
7. 0:17n years in the Soviet Gulag tortured by
8. 0:20the evil Soviet regime and kept in
9. 0:23solitary confinement because he dared
10. 0:26advocate for human rights and on behalf
11. 0:28of his fellow Soviet Juds he was
12. 0:31released in 1986 and immediately
13. 0:33immigrated to Israel where he served in
14. 0:36the knesset and now leads the Jewish
15. 0:38Agency for Israel which is dedicated to
16. 0:41helping the Jewish people around the
17. 0:43world and facilitating Jewish
18. 0:45immigration or Aliah to the state of
19. 0:48Israel for his tireless work on behalf
20. 0:51of freedom and human rights for all
21. 0:53people Mr sharansky received the
22. 0:55Congressional gold medal from President
23. 0:57Ronald Reagan and the presidential medal
24. 0:59of freedom from George W bush I was
25. 1:02honored to sit down with him recently in
26. 1:05his office in Jerusalem to discuss his
27. 1:07experiences in Soviet prisons the
28. 1:10ongoing Battle For Freedom around the
29. 1:12world and the great things happening in
30. 1:15Israel today take a
31. 1:17look you're pasted obviously being in a
32. 1:20Soviet prison a freedom fighter a
33. 1:22fighter for democracy uh when you got
34. 1:25out of that Soviet prison the first
35. 1:26place you come was came was right up to
36. 1:29Jerusalem right here talk about the tug
37. 1:31you felt on your heart towards Israel
38. 1:34even as a young man in the Soviet Union
39. 1:35talk about that pull you felt towards
40. 1:37the land of Israel well uh first of all
41. 1:40you have to understand that I
42. 1:43grew in the atmosphere of forc
43. 1:47assimilation Soviet Union communist
44. 1:49regime wanted to raise all the
45. 1:51identities and a special identity of
46. 1:54Jews because they saw it like a
47. 1:56competition to their communist
48. 1:58ideology uh
49. 2:00so I was like the second generation of
50. 2:04forced assimilated Soviet Jews we had no
51. 2:07Jewish culture no Jewish language no
52. 2:10Jewish history no Jewish Coles we didn't
53. 2:13know the names of Jewish Coles we we
54. 2:15never
55. 2:18hadit but we knew that we are Jews
56. 2:20because of anti-Semitism because there
57. 2:22are a lot of restrictions and
58. 2:24discrimination for Jews and so the only
59. 2:28idea uh in your life is how to survive
60. 2:32how to adjust yourself to that regime
61. 2:35maybe to fight against this regime you
62. 2:36will not even think to fight because
63. 2:39there are no values except survival and
64. 2:42how it changed after 1967 when Israel
65. 2:46entered our life in a very powerful way
66. 2:49simply through all the Soviet
67. 2:51anti-israeli propaganda which was
68. 2:53bewildered by the victory of Israel over
69. 2:55its enemies The Six Day War and suddenly
70. 2:58sixth day war and suddenly you see see
71. 3:00that all the people around
72. 3:02you treat you as if you're part of
73. 3:04Israel those who love you and those who
74. 3:06hate you they all think that Israel army
75. 3:09is your army and you want to understand
76. 3:12this connection that's when we start
77. 3:13reading in the underground by the books
78. 3:15which were brought by American tourists
79. 3:17by Jews from America they were bringing
80. 3:20us books and we read them about
81. 3:23ourselves about Exodus from Egypt about
82. 3:26struggle for Thousand Years about
83. 3:28creation of the state of Israel
84. 3:30and suddenly you realize that if only
85. 3:32you will make this rational decision it
86. 3:35will be your history you can be part of
87. 3:38this people and this Exodus from Egypt
88. 3:41still continues and that's when you
89. 3:45realize there are history there are
90. 3:48people and there is country which are
91. 3:51your country and which is ready to fight
92. 3:52for you in taba when Israel sent
93. 3:55airplanes to Uganda to release is 100
94. 4:00100
95. 4:01Jewish hostage it was such a powerful
96. 4:04message for us that the state of Israel
97. 4:06would do everything to help us and
98. 4:09that's suddenly you have strength to
99. 4:11fight for your rights for the rights of
100. 4:15other Jews and for the rights of many
101. 4:18other non-jews and that's how I became
102. 4:20the spokesman of two movements Jewish
103. 4:23zist movement and human rights movement
104. 4:27and whenever it was said but isn't there
105. 4:29tradiction are you nationalist or you
106. 4:34are for the rights of all the world are
107. 4:36you for freedom for everybody or you
108. 4:37only for right of Jews to go to Israel
109. 4:41you have to choose I felt it's
110. 4:43ridiculous I don't have to choose
111. 4:45because if I have strength to fight for
112. 4:48the freedom for the rights of people to
113. 4:51be free it's only because I discovered
114. 4:54my identity and this desire to be part
115. 4:57of your people part of your country part
116. 4:59of your history that what gives you
117. 5:01strength to fight for the better World
118. 5:03got think of your book the Case for
119. 5:04democracy where you have been an
120. 5:06eloquent voice for free people around
121. 5:08the world you've fought against
122. 5:10tyrannies you've seen it firsthand
123. 5:12you've experienced it do you see Echoes
124. 5:15today in what we're seeing we have the
125. 5:17rise of radical Islam and that kind of
126. 5:19tyranny in many places around the world
127. 5:20I think of Iran threatening the Jewish
128. 5:22people in some ways do you see history
129. 5:25repeating itself America approved and
130. 5:27President Reagan approved and Senator
131. 5:29Jackson approved
132. 5:30that if you stand firm against the evil
133. 5:33America has such a powerful weapon of
134. 5:36Freedom that pre evil will be defeated
135. 5:38and that communism will be in the dabin
136. 5:41of history as President Reagan predicted
137. 5:43it many years before so uh today the
138. 5:48fact that superpower the only superpower
139. 5:51in the world America free country is
140. 5:54ready to sign an agreement with Iran
141. 5:58turning Iran into local superpower and
142. 6:01not demanding from Iran even to change
143. 6:04their rhetorics not speaking about their
144. 6:06politics not to stop supporting world
145. 6:08terror I think it's a shame I think it's
146. 6:11the fact that the Free World volunteer
147. 6:15refuses to use its powerful weapon of
148. 6:19freedom and even when the people of Iran
149. 6:22made it clear that they want Revolution
150. 6:24the Free World was not ready to support
151. 6:28them up next next Natan shansky
152. 6:31discusses his fight for freedom and the
153. 6:33ongoing struggle for democracy over the
154. 6:36forces of tyranny and radical Islam it's
155. 6:39the Watchman only right here on TBN
156. 6:42don't move