We were invited by Fulbright to go see Obama speak in Jerusalem this past week. We were told we would be in the overflow room, but to get there early as there was a chance we would be able to get into the main auditorium.
The email from the Fulbright folks said to meet them at the Crowne Plaza next to the convention center to pick up our tickets around noon. The speech was scheduled for something in the afternoon - basically whenever Obama arrived.
We ran into some other Fulbrighters waiting at the hotel, had some coffee and got our tickets. We had to walk down the street to join the line waiting to get into the convention center. The shortest route was seemed to be to walk through the adjacent parking lot, so we did. By doing so, we accidentally circumvented the whole line, ending up inside the gate. We were asked if we were American (yes) and then if we were with the Embassy (sort of). The security guard (an elite military officer with more weapons than martial arts movie) seemed to think this was good enough and told us just to stay where we were. Getting around the rules is very common in Israel - it's called a kombina.
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| You don't want to mess with these guys!!! |
Ending up at the front of the line was the key to the success of the day. Most people were issued blue tickets, which meant they were guaranteed a seat. We had yellow, which mean we were on the waiting list. Once we got inside, we were issued numbers and would be given seats as they opened up. The lower your number, the better your chance.
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| Not exactly a golden ticket...but it got us in! |
After hours of waiting, multiple security checks (I was asked 3 separate times if I had a gun), we were in the lucky 187 that got the extra seats in the main auditorium. Not all the Fulbrighters were so lucky, but the few that stayed in the overflow room got another and equally interesting perspective of the speech.
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| Mr. President |
We felt proud to be Americans and were pleasantly surprised at the amount of substance behind the President's words. Overall, the audience had a seemingly favorable view. They must have been among the 10% of Israelis that like Obama. There was one heckler near the beginning and we're not exactly sure what he said, but Obama handled it well. He even joked that he felt right at home and it wouldn't be a speech if there wasn't at least one heckler!
It was another completely surreal experience to be watching the President of the United States give a speech in a convention center in Jerusalem!
If you'd like to read the speech, you can find it here.
As you know, this visit wasn't just one speech to students in Jerusalem. There were several press conferences and visits to places throughout Israel. One of which, was Yad Vashem. His remarks there were incredibly meaningful. If you are interested in reading the transcript, you can find that here as well.
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