Ep. 357 – Amb. Dennis Ross

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2019

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dennis Ross is a diplomat and author with over four decades of experience in Middle East policy. He joins David to talk about his service under six presidential administrations, how the political climate in the Middle East has evolved, and the status of America’s diplomatic efforts under the Trump administration. His new book, Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel’s Most Important Leaders Shaped Its Destiny, explores the stories of the founding leaders of Israel—both the challenges they faced and the resolve they showed in the struggle to protect the fledgling democracy. For the full episode visit luminary.link/axe. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Music
0:06.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Ax Files with your host David Axelrod.
0:15.0	Music
0:19.0	No one knows more about the complex politics of the Middle East and the peace process than former ambassador Dennis Ross who served administrations of both parties and helped mediate historic peace agreements in the 1990s between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
0:35.0	I sat down with him recently at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics to talk about his career, the region, and where we go now. And that conversation took place before the indictment last week of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
0:51.0	Music
0:57.0	Dennis Ross, it's great to see you again. I remember very well time back in the White House when you were trying to advance a goal that has occupied much of your life, which is peace in the Middle East.
1:15.0	But before we get to all of that and where we are today because there's so much going on, particularly in that region, and I know Iran is another major concern of yours.
1:30.0	And I want to talk about your new book, a relative to Israeli leadership.
1:35.0	But I wanted to talk about your own story.
1:40.0	So tell me you grew up in San Francisco.
1:45.0	I did. I grew up in the Bornness, San Francisco, grew up in Marin County.
1:51.0	And at that time, interestingly enough, when I was in Marin County as a kid, it was a liberal Republican county, which seems like an oxymoron in and of its own.
1:59.0	I know I always say if you want to find a liberal Republican, go down to the Museum of Natural History.
2:05.0	Well, that's probably where you can still find them.
2:09.0	And I actually trace the change in Marin County to the Vietnam War.
2:17.0	That's when you had a lot of professionals from San Francisco move out to Marin County.
2:22.0	The Vietnam War produced another mother for peace if that actually originated in Marin County.
2:29.0	Although I have to say, actually date the change in Marin County to we lived down in a place called the Belvedere Lagoon.
2:38.0	And in front of our house, two in 1966, two twin porches pulled up and two guys got out of them in twin jogging suits.
2:48.0	And I turned to my brother and I said, this looks to me like a profound change is taking place.
2:54.0	I'm not quite sure why or what or what's driving it, but something profound is happening in front of our eyes.
	...

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