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View Winners → Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Starts 20th Season of Distinguished Speaker Series
Pasadena Independent Oct 07, 2015
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– Courtesy Photo
פורטרט, שר הביטחון אהוד ברק.
October 2015 to May 2016 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium
Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel and global statesman is coming to Pasadena as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series. He is appearing at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 8 p.m. Tickets to the evening are still available as part of a subscription package.
“Prime Minister Barak’s appearance could not have come at a more relevant time,” says co-founder Kathy Winterhalder. “Over the years we have made it a point to bring world renowned and sought-after speakers to our stage. We have brought to Pasadena some of the greatest global leaders of our time, including Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Tony Blair, Benazir Bhutto, FW DeKlerk and H. H. the Dalai Lama to name a few.”
Few individuals have the breadth of political, economic and military leadership experience as former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The New York Times called him a man “who over a half-century career became Israel’s most decorated soldier and held the nation’s trifecta of top positions.” The Wall Street Journal declared him “one of Israel’s towering military figures.”
Ehud Barak has served Israel as prime minister, chief of general staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, foreign minister and most recently as minister of defense—a position he took on in 2007 and retired from in 2012. During his tenure as Israel’s tenth prime minister, Barak led the country out of a prolonged recession and into an economic boom, with 5.9 percent annual growth, record foreign investments, near zero inflation, a halved deficit and significantly decreased external debt. Barak played a pivotal role in various Middle Eastern peace efforts. Foreign Policy magazine named him 13th among its 100 Global Thinkers. The core of the prime minister’s efforts was devoted to the peace process. In 2000, he ordered the withdrawal of the Israeli Defense Forces from South Lebanon, ending 18 tragic and bloody years of Israel’s presence there.
The Distinguished Speaker Series will be held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 East Green St., Pasadena. Each program begins at 8 p.m. Barak is the first of seven talks offered as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series. He will be followed by John Cleese (Nov. 11), Henry Paulson in conversation with Geoffrey Colvin (Jan. 13), Platon the photographer (Feb. 10), Michio Kaku (March 16), Leon Panetta (April 13) and finish with Martha Stewart (May 11). His evening will conclude with a half-hour question and answer session moderated by a KNX 1070 Newsradio host. Individual tickets to Ehud Barak are not available. He and the remaining series speakers are only available in a subscription package, which range from $260 to $434, and can be purchased by calling (310) 546-6222 or by visiting www.speakersla.com. The Distinguished Speaker Series of Pasadena is sponsored by Union Bank and KNX 1070.
