♪ please welcome award-winning journalist and best-selling author claire shipman. [applause] this week we will hear from her congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle on the hot button issues facing america and the middle east our next guest is one such leader and now ranked as first

among all 100 senators to cosponsor bills that were enacted into law in the last congress a champion ladies and gentlemen from the great state of minnesota, senator amy klobuchar [applause] >> thank you senator it's great to be here in an intimate setting with you with so many of our friends. you have been a consistent supporter of the u.s. relationship so talk about why that is so important to you. >> a lot of it of course has to do with home i know we have some great minnesota people here and we are excited about

that and also it has a lot to do with israel's position in the world it is a beacon of democracy in what is a really tough neighborhood. when i talk to people at home they see it that way. they are not jewish they see the importance of that friendship if they are jewish they remind me we have four jewish senators in the last few decades in minnesota and we have a powerful community despite our very scandinavian reputation and with the metals of u.s. curling team more from our state i would like to bring that up. [laughter] so this unity is what got me so interested while i was running from the senate i

still remember meeting a family rocket shell had gone right through their home the daughter was doing homework at the table if not for the alert system she would have been dead and this actually reminded me of the work i did as a prosecutor trying to help people those that were terrified every single day what would happen to the next and no country should have to live like that and then on my last visit to israel with senator graham and senator hoven and i was noted that he has a lot of relatives of minnesota and he said when i got back to the state i could

tell them that i met with the israeli prime minister of minnesota. that is amusing but he said it to me as i set it just as i was sitting next to the senator from new york. [laughter] >> given that current hyper- partisan environment with those issues on which democrats and republicans can work together is it possible this issue can remain bipartisan especially in congress? >> i think it can end it depends on the jewish community in america because i believe you can find common ground while standing your ground that is a hallmark and we seen this with support for israel whether iron dome or iran sanctions or whether the

memorandum of understanding of $38 billion to israel's security. at the same time things have become very polarized so what i would suggest and you know this better to stop people from injecting partisanship into the israeli-american relationship and pushback to getting the youth involved with some of those issues between israel and this community whether taking on climate change or immigration reform or for refugees and this is what the community has been active on.

to talk and teach you what happened with the holocaust because so many don't know that history that is why i appreciated out -- appreciate how aipac has reached out but maybe if you didn't know they were friends before i spent a lot of time traveling the world with john mccain he said to say hello by the way. and you were in the baltics and the ukraine and john mccain has always to that for me talking with male leaders he always does she is the lead and she will go first.

and he decided he would show the strong american might to russia and presented me first he went to mccain to give him a machine gun, true story gave lindsay graham a pistol and i thought what do i get? he gave me two daggers. that is a true story. but it reminded me again john mccain has been through everything in his life but he still sees the importance not just going with party but to reach out for country and that is what we have to think about. [applause] >> i imagine him to be a great traveling buddies. >> we have a lot of fun to make administration has maintained full funding to israel but it continues to

look for big cuts in international affairs spending. how do you think congress will deal with the request for security? . . . . some of the bleakest times for foreign aid outside of israel. i think part of that is no one better than the community to make the case for refugees since israel was a haven for

refugees out of the beginning. second as we look at how we have many people that would like to cut off nearly all of the foreign aid how we make that argument. first is national security, i think the secretary james mattis that recently said then we cut the state department more ammunition i have to buy. there is a clear relationship between a strong military and strong diplomacy and strong foreign aid. our congressman in minnesota, a conservative republican, i decided to make the point home by doing event that the american refugee committee about keeping foreign aid strong. it is important, economics. george bush got this all blanketed to reduce aid. bill clinton got this and i think he mixed culture

arguments. quotes are interesting. question here about those events at home. we have just about one minute left on the issue of security. as you know last month iranians in -- destruction of parts of the defense system. i think that i highlighted the real growing threat that israel faces on the northern border. how can the us and israel work together to confront the threat in syria and ensure that israel gets the support that it needs to deal with a threat? >> i think this is a real wake-up call for washington and that is that we must and tall and we must be firm on this. that iran has been building up their military presence in syria and lebanon. we're talking right in israel's northern border. and the first is what i've been talking about. the importance of aid and keeping our age strong for

israel. i was in the second is being very firm on the sanctions against iran and enforcing them. and enforcing them, this is everything from the primary sections to the secondary sanctions about making sure that we go after companies that are doing business with hezbollah and other terrorist groups and making this a major priority in the foreign policy. or it will just get worse and worse. the last thing i would say is the importance of taking on anti-semitism across the world. because will have trouble getting allies against iran if we just let that fester and that means they senators, that join together to push back at the un for the anti-semitism that we have seen there. and it also means internationally and at home.

our community centers in minnesota that were targeted. we have seen in even swastikas on homes in the last year in my state. i mean security money but also means a culture of reaching out to people and making sure that people stand tall for israel. i will end with one-story to remind you of this important meeting on today's political culture. that is that mostly the ad that went viral in the twin cities during the super bowl. it was not a vikings dad because sadly, they didn't make it to the super bowl. but it was an ad, a video of an interfaith event where one of our most popular rabbis through a football two and a mom and he caught it and ran in for a touchdown. and i think the message to the young people in our state was that kind of reaching out in a good way. reaching out at the same time

scanning the ground for israel and finding common ground where we can. that is what i think them for doing. keep up the good work and thank you. >> amy klobuchar, thank you for your time this morning.♪ ♪ [music] >> please welcome back to this stage, claire shipman. >> thank you. earlier we heard from senator amy klobuchar. i will give them a leader and then