It's
great to see so many friends from across the country. I want to
congratulate Howard Friedman, David Victor and Howard Kohr on a
successful conference, and on the completion of a new headquarters just
a few blocks away.

Before I begin, I want to say that I
know some provocative e-mails have been circulating throughout Jewish
communities across the country. A few of you may have gotten them.
They're filled with tall tales and dire warnings about a certain
candidate for president. And all I want to say is -- let me know if you
see this guy named Barack Obama, because he sounds pretty frightening.

But
if anyone has been confused by these e-mails, I want you to know that
today I'll be speaking from my heart, and as a true friend of Israel.
And I know that when I visit with AIPAC, I am among friends. Good
friends. Friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that the
bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today,
tomorrow and forever.

One of the many things that I admire
about AIPAC is that you fight for this common cause from the bottom up.
The lifeblood of AIPAC is here in this room -- grass-roots activists of
all ages, from all parts of the country, who come to Washington year
after year to make your voices heard. Nothing reflects the face of
AIPAC more than the 1,200 students who have traveled here to make it
clear to the world that the bond between Israel and the United States
is rooted in more than our shared national interests -- it's rooted in
the shared values and shared stories of our people. And as president, I
will work with you to ensure that this bond is strengthened.

I
first became familiar with the story of Israel when I was 11 years old.
I learned of the long journey and steady determination of the Jewish
people to preserve their identity through faith, family and culture.
Year after year, century after century, Jews carried on their
traditions, and their dream of a homeland, in the face of impossible
odds.

The story made a powerful impression on me. I had
grown up without a sense of roots. My father was black; he was from
Kenya, and he left us when I was 2. My mother was white; she was from
Kansas, and I'd moved with her to Indonesia and then back to Hawaii. In
many ways, I didn't know where I came from. So I was drawn to the
belief that you could sustain a spiritual, emotional and cultural
identity. And I deeply understood the Zionist idea -- that there is
always a homeland at the center of our story.

I
also learned about the horror of the Holocaust, and the terrible
urgency it brought to the journey home to Israel. For much of my
childhood, I lived with my grandparents. My grandfather had served in
World War II, and so had my great-uncle. He was a Kansas boy who
probably never expected to see Europe -- let alone the horrors that
awaited him there. And for months after he came home from Germany, he
remained in a state of shock, alone with the painful memories that
wouldn't leave his head.

You see, my great-uncle had been a
part of the 89th Infantry Division -- the first Americans to reach a
Nazi concentration camp. They liberated Ohrdruf, part of Buchenwald, on
an April day in 1945. The horrors of that camp go beyond our capacity
to imagine. Tens of thousands died of hunger, torture, disease, or
plain murder -- part of the Nazi killing machine that killed 6 million
people.

When the Americans marched in, they discovered
huge piles of dead bodies and starving survivors. Gen. Eisenhower
ordered Germans from the nearby town to tour the camp, so they could
see what was being done in their name. He ordered American troops to
tour the camp, so they could see the evil they were fighting against.
He invited congressmen and journalists to bear witness. And he ordered
that photographs and films be made. Explaining his actions, Eisenhower
said that he wanted to produce "firsthand evidence of these things, if
ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these
allegations merely to propaganda."

I saw some of those very
images at Yad Vashem, and they never leave you. And those images just
hint at the stories that survivors of the Shoah carried with them. Like
Eisenhower, each of us bears witness to anyone and everyone who would
deny these unspeakable crimes, or ever speak of repeating them. We must
mean what we say when we speak the words "never again."

It was just a few years
after the liberation of the camps that David Ben-Gurion declared the
founding of the Jewish State of Israel. We know that the establishment
of Israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle and
decades of patient work. But 60 years later, we know that we cannot
relent, we cannot yield, and as president I will never compromise when
it comes to Israel's security.

Not when there are still
voices that deny the Holocaust. Not when there are terrorist groups and
political leaders committed to Israel's destruction. Not when there are
maps across the Middle East that don't even acknowledge Israel's
existence, and government-funded textbooks filled with hatred toward
Jews. Not when there are rockets raining down on Sderot, and Israeli
children have to take a deep breath and summon uncommon courage every
time they board a bus or walk to school.

I have long
understood Israel's quest for peace and need for security. But never
more so than during my travels there two years ago. Flying in an
[Israeli Defense Forces] helicopter, I saw a narrow and beautiful strip
of land nestled against the Mediterranean. On the ground, I met a
family who saw their house destroyed by a Katyusha rocket. I spoke to
Israeli troops who faced daily threats as they maintained security near
the blue line. I talked to people who wanted nothing more simple, or
elusive, than a secure future for their children.

I
have been proud to be a part of a strong, bipartisan consensus that has
stood by Israel in the face of all threats. That is a commitment that
both John McCain and I share, because support for Israel in this
country goes beyond party. But part of our commitment must be speaking
up when Israel's security is at risk, and I don't think any of us can
be satisfied that America's recent foreign policy has made Israel more
secure.

Hamas now controls Gaza. Hezbollah has tightened
its grip on southern Lebanon, and is flexing its muscles in Beirut.
Because of the war in Iraq, Iran -- which always posed a greater threat
to Israel than Iraq -- is emboldened and poses the greatest strategic
challenge to the United States and Israel in the Middle East in a
generation. Iraq is unstable, and al-Qaida has stepped up its
recruitment. Israel's quest for peace with its neighbors has stalled,
despite the heavy burdens borne by the Israeli people. And America is
more isolated in the region, reducing our strength and jeopardizing
Israel's safety.

The
question is how to move forward. There are those who would continue and
intensify this failed status quo, ignoring eight years of accumulated
evidence that our foreign policy is dangerously flawed. And then there
are those who would lay all of the problems of the Middle East at the
doorstep of Israel and its supporters, as if the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is the root of all trouble in the region. These voices blame
the Middle East's only democracy for the region's extremism. They offer
the false promise that abandoning a stalwart ally is somehow the path
to strength. It is not, it never has been, and it never will be.

Our
alliance is based on shared interests and shared values. Those who
threaten Israel threaten us. Israel has always faced these threats on
the front lines. And I will bring to the White House an unshakeable
commitment to Israel's security.

That starts with ensuring
Israel's qualitative military advantage. I will ensure that Israel can
defend itself from any threat -- from Gaza to Tehran. Defense
cooperation between the United States and Israel is a model of success,
and must be deepened. As president, I will implement a Memorandum of
Understanding that provides $30 billion in assistance to Israel over
the next decade -- investments to Israel's security that will not be
tied to any other nation. First, we must approve the foreign aid
request for 2009. Going forward, we can enhance our cooperation on
missile defense. We should export military equipment to our ally Israel
under the same guidelines as NATO. And I will always stand up for
Israel's right to defend itself in the United Nations and around the
world.