Symbols of Peace, they really do matter ask Obama.

These days , I cannot stop thinking about the day I went with my father to meet Menachem Begin a day before the signature of the Camp David accord in Washington. I was then probably barely 21, we met here in NYC at the Regency hotel where he was staying with the Israeli delegation. When we entered his suite , he was there alone with his old time confident and secretary , Kadishai.

Here I was in presence of the man I most revered in Israeli politics, a true jewish Lion.

My father had created for this day , an incredible symbol of Peace , that was an “Agamgamation” of the Islamic star and Jewish star. An incredible and beautiful star uniting the two cultures. It was widely used by Israel in every major ceremony highlighting the achievement of Camp David and Peace negotiation with the Palestinians at the time.

But on this day , Begin saw it for the first time , Agam showed it to him and gave Kadsihai some printed illustrations of it to take to Washington for that important and solemn day. I can remember the excitement on Menachem Begin face when he saw this artwork that was in a way the coronation of his political career.

Two years ago , I saw David Axelrod , the President former Senior Advisor  and told him about the story of this symbol and how important it will be for the President to have a visual symbol that he can use in his difficult and ambitious struggle to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians. I told my father about it and asked him to give me one of these models to send to the President. Agam told me yes but then he got so busy that he never sent me this symbol. Today I can see that something is missing between Israel and the President, and I am upset that I was never able to show this symbol to the President, maybe things would have been different.

I also remembered that one day in Paris at Unesco during an event celebrating Peace, Arafat embraced my father when he received this sculpture from my father hand , Gorbatchev was there with Kissinger, also, with Shimon Peres. So yes symbol matters especially when they illustrate hope and conciliation.

A few months ago , I was inspired by the same idea of Peace and created a very simple work , a soothing clean message . One uncomplicated message. In a few days , I will give this symbol to a very important man  who is trying his best to help achieve Peace.