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A television debate in 2002 still shapes how I hear calls for “dialogue” with terror groups today.
When Rev. Jesse Jackson died, many tributes rightly focused on his role in the American civil rights movement. He marched with Dr. King. He ran for president. He gave voice to communities long ignored.
But when I heard the news of his passing, my mind went back to a television studio in 2002.
I was on “Donahue,” invited to speak as the father of a murdered daughter. My Alisa had been killed seven years earlier in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack. Across from me was another bereaved Israeli father. On the phone from Chicago was Rev. Jesse Jackson, just back from the Middle East.
We were not there as ideologues. We were fathers.
Jackson spoke with compassion. He had visited hospitals in Jerusalem. He warned that if Israel responded with force, “there will just be more children dead.” He urged negotiation, reconciliation, dialogue — even with Hamas.
His language was familiar: break the cycle, choose talks over tanks, step beyond the pain.
I asked him a question that came not from politics but from grief.
On........