Of the 6000 languages spoken in the world today, only one is truly universal: the language of tears. That is the language we speak today.

For a whole year we've shared tears with the people of Israel, who suffered more than 7000 terrorist attacks. One an hour, every hour of every day. In their wake, they left thousands injured and more than 170 dead.

Now we share tears with the people of America, who have suffered the worst single peacetime act of terror they and we have ever known. We say to them, your grief is ours.

Three thousand years ago our prophets were the first to speak of peace as an ideal. There wasn't one prayer we prayed for a hundred generations that didn't end with a prayer for peace. Not anger or hate... just a deep humanity and a yearning for peace.

Today, we heard the father of a murdered son, and the brothers and sisters of Israeli soldiers missing in action - people whose lives are shattered by grief. In all they said, there was not a word of anger or hate or desire for revenge; instead, a deep humanity and a desire for peace. Dear G-d, this is your people, and I am humbly proud to belong to it.

When Your children, ravaged by the Holocaust, came together to rebuild their life as a nation in Your holy land, all they ever sought was to live at peace with their neighbors.

On the very day the state of Israel was born, attacked on every one of its borders, David Ben Gurion declared: "we extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness." The offer was rejected, as it was rejected many times since.

Eight years ago the late Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with Yassir Arafat before the cameras of the world, and Israel and the Palestinians bound themselves to engage in negotiations, renouncing all violence and terror. Yitzhak Rabin gave his life for that ideal.

Another Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, offered more for the sake of peace than anyone dreamt, anyone expected, anyone thought possible.

And at that very moment, when they were offered more than they could realistically hope, the Palestinians broke the Oslo accords, and began a campaign of terror to undermine the very existence of a Jewish home. It brought bloodshed to the streets, the marketplaces and the restaurants of Israel. But it did more than that. It became a campaign of vilification directed to the press and television screens of the world that I never dreamed I would see in my lifetime.

It culminated in a United Nations conference in Durban, convened to fight racism, which became instead a platform for a new and virulent racism, resurrecting every evil image and myth of a thousand years of anti-Semitism. There, under the eyes of the nations of the world, the Jews of Israel were accused of racism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, genocide and crimes against humanity. The holocaust denial came not from crazed individuals but from official government spokesmen.

Thousands of leaflets were distributed with passages from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and cartoons from Der Sturmer. This at an international conference against racism?

Is this what the United Nations has become? Is this what humanity has learned from the Holocaust? That Jews still face the hate? That we still have to defend our right to exist? That Jews are still threatened, endangered, held hostage, murdered for the mere fact that they are Jews - and be blamed for it as well? Dear G-d, - is this what your world has become?

When the history of the 20th century comes to be written, it will tell a simple story: Fascism came and went; Soviet communism came and went; But anti-Semitism came and stayed.

And within a week of the hijacking of the United Nations came the hijacking of four planes in the US -reminding us that hatred knows no boundaries. It spreads like fire, and if not extinguished at the outset it blazes beyond control.

Even then, unbelievably, we heard voice after voice blaming Israel, as if all the evils of the world have one source: us, we who have striven for peace, for blessing and for life. Friends! There is only one connection between the attacks on Israel and the United States. It has nothing to do with Israel's relations with the Palestinians, or American foreign policy. It is that Israel and the United States are free, open, liberal, democratic societies, and therefore constitute the ultimate threat to those who seek to create closed, repressive, autocratic and totalitarian societies - with no rule of law, no free press, no independent judiciary, no permitted dissent, and no minority rights.

Imagine that those journalists who blamed Israel had to leave Britain. Where would they choose to live? In Afghanistan, under the Taliban? In Gaza under the Palestinian authority? In Iraq, under Saddam Hussein? In Iran or Libya or Syria or any other of a dozen countries we could name? Or in Tel Aviv in the Israel they condemn, where you can live as a Christian, pray as a Muslim, even criticize the government, without being imprisoned, mutilated or quietly assassinated.

Who ever offered the Palestinians a future? The Jordanians, who threw them out of Jordan? The Lebanese, who threw them out of Lebanon? The Syrians, who threw them out of Tripoli? Or all those other friends and neighbors who used and exploited them and gave them hate instead of hope, and guns instead of food? The only nation to offer the Palestinians a future has been Israel. And for this Israel stands condemned.

Friends, certain condemnations are badges of honor. If today in certain minds Israel is linked with the United States - let that too be a badge of honor. Because the United States, like Israel, was created to be a home for refugees; the United States like Israel was built on freedom and respect for human life; the United States like Israel made prosperity out of desolation; the United States like Israel shared its blessings with others. If these things are condemned, then let us too be condemned; but let us never stand with those who fear freedom, and kill those with whom they disagree.

On Rosh Hashanah we read from the Torah about Sarah and the gift of a child. We read about Hannah and her prayer for a child. We read about Rachel, weeping for her missing children. The greatest Jewish dream is to bring children into the world, and give them safety, a home; and teach them the songs and stories of our people; and see them grow and write their own chapter in our story; and make our ancient faith young again.

This simple love of life and of children allowed us to outlive empires built on war and violence; and when nations learn to love their children more than they hate their neighbors, we will have peace.

I say to the enemies of freedom: Children deserve better than to be taught to hate those with whom they must learn to live. Children deserve better than to be taught to win their place in heaven by committing suicide in the act of killing others. Every child deserves a future. In the name of all you hold holy, give your children hope. Teach them to live, not die.

Let us pray for peace, work for peace, and if necessary, fight for peace, until the children of the world can grow up without hate and fear. We stand today with the people of Israel, the United States and Britain, and with, I believe, the majority of Muslims around the world. Every one of us leaves this place with our heads held high.

We say to the world: we will not answer hate with hate; nor will we respond to terror with fear. We say to our enemies: We do not seek our freedom at the cost of yours; do not seek yours at the cost of ours. From this day forth, and for as long as it takes, let us pray for peace, work for peace, and yes, if necessary, fight for peace. "See," said Moses, "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life." That is now the choice that faces the world. Dear G-d, allow us to defeat the forces of death and build a world that honors life.

The Chief Rabbi delivered this speech at the Israel Solidarity Rally in London's Drury Lane Theatre, September 23, 2001.