Here are a few of the book festivals we will be covering on book tv. We will visit maryland for live coverage of the gaithersburg book festival with congressman tom davis and martin frost. We will close out may at book expo america where the industry showcases their upcoming books. And we are live for the printers row literature fest including our indepth program with glitter prizewinning author Lawrence Wright and your phone calls. Vice President Biden delivered remarks thursday evening at israel plus 67th Independence Day celebration. He talked about the long history and friendship between the u. S. And israel. The Vice President touched on the Iran Nuclear Framework agreement, warning that if iran does not follow through with guidelines, there would be no deal. This is about 40 minutes. [applause] our program will begin with the singing of the national anthem. The starspangled banner [indiscernible] the former lead singer of the Israel Defense force band. [singing the starspangled banner] [applause] [applause] please join me in welcoming ambassador john renner. John brunner. On behalf of the military at a deputy ambassador and all my colleagues at the israeli embassy, my wife and i want to welcome all of you to this israel Independence Day celebration. I want to especially welcome the many officials from the Obama Administration senators, members of congress and ambassadors who are here tonight to stop above all, i want to thank you, vice President Biden. [applause] it has been many years since a Vice President came to this event, so we deeply appreciate you being here tonight. I know that it reflects your personal commitment to israel which you have expressed in so many ways over a 40 year career as a senator and as Vice President. But i also think your presence here helps reaffirm the alliance and friendship between our two countries. Actually, alliance and friendship are probably the wrong words. Allies have common interests friends have common values. America and israel have both. We confront the same enemies and we are driven by the same ideals. But america and israel share a common heritage and common destiny. That is why Prime Minister netanyahu was perhaps more accurate when he said last month that america and israel are more than allies and more than friends. We are families we speak a little yiddish. All families have disagreements. Mr. Vice president , i dont know how it works in catholic families, but i can tell you in jewish families, those disagreements can get pretty heated. What helps us overcome those disagreements is the understanding that what unites us is far more important than what divides us. This is especially true of the relationship between america and israel. [applause] and it is something i think about every day as israels ambassador to the United States. We often speak about the unprecedented security operation and intelligence operations between our countries as if we are routinely checking off some inconsequential list. But i know israeli lives are safe because of that cooperation and, mr. Vice president , you know american lives are safe because of that cooperation. I know what america means to israel, what it means to have the most powerful country in the world on your side, and what it would mean to not have america on israels side. Mr. Vice president , you know what israel means to america and what it means to have a strong, stable, democratic ally in the heart of the most dangerous region on earth and what it would mean for america if there were no israel. Mr. Vice president , on Independence Day, israelis do not focus on our many challenges. We focus on our remarkable achievements. 67 years ago today, we established a sovereign jewish state in our ancestral homeland. The same land in which thousands of years ago our patriarchs prayed, our profits preached and are teams or old. Israel has gone from being home to just 5 of the world jews to being home to nearly half of the world jews. In 67 years, israel has gone from having an illequipped and undermanned military to having one of the mower one of the more powerful and capable militaries in the world. In 67 years. [applause] in 67 years, israel has gone from being a small, agricultural backwater to being a global technological power. Today is the day when we marvel at israel he technology that is powering the worlds computers irrigating arid lands across the globe, and helping paraplegics walk for the first time. Today is the day when israelis can take pride in having one a dozen nobel prizes and six european basketball championships. [applause] i know its not the nba, but it is pretty good. We can take pride in having developed a dynamic culture that produces worldclass museums and a country so excited exciting that israelis actually go to manhattan to unwind. Today is the day when we especially, we are especially proud of our vibrant and rambunctious democracy were concepts like freedom, equality and justice are not empty words. In israel, a daughter can grow up to be a Fighter Pilot or Prime Minister. And arab can sit in judgment of israels highest officials in our highest court. A muslim can graduate first in her class at our most Prestigious University and a christian can worship as they please in a thriving community. What is even more remarkable [applause] what is even more remarkable is that israel has achieved all it has during 67 years of multiple wars countless terror attacks and a continuous and unrelenting effort destroy it. Ladies and gentlemen, here in washington, israels independent day also gives us an opportunity to thank america for the partnership has grown so much stronger over these past 67 years. People forget, but in 1948, the United States faced an arms embargo on israel. Israel fought its war of independence with check rifles and flu french planes in the sixday war. Today, the United States help israel shoulder its enormous defense heard with billions of dollars in military assistance, provides israel with some of the most advanced was advanced Weapons Systems and jointly developed what is perhaps the worlds best whistle defense program. In 1948 [applause] in 1948, israel was exporting oranges to the United States and our bilateral trade was all of 34 million. Today, we export the most cuttingedge technology, our bilateral trade has grown by more than 1000 times 238 billion. This year, we will mark 30 years and israel became americas first freetrade partner. [applause] for over 67 years, america has stood by israels side in countless ways from airlifts that help israel defended health in war to loan guarantees that help israel stabilize its economy and absorb new immigrants, two vetoes of antiisrael resolutions at the united nations. Over those years, america and israel have had some serious disagreements, even on vital matters. But we have weathered all of those disagreements to go to grow closer and closer, decade after decade. I am confident the security challenges america and israel will face together and the innovation america and innovate america and israel will create together will pull our countries even closer together in the years and decades ahead. Ladies and gentlemen, as israel celebrates its independence, we give thanks today for what we have overcome and for how far we have come. We also give thanks to the American People, to their representatives in congress, and from president s two president s from harry truman to barack obama for all of the help you have given us along the way. [applause] we give thanks for all america has done to make israel stronger safer and more prosperous. For support that has enabled israel both to defend itself i itself against any threat and to forge historic peace agreements with egypt and jordan. As we celebrate israels Independence Day in the capital of this great nation, i am as confident as ever that despite all the challenges, israels best days and the best days of the u. S. Israel relationship are still ahead. [applause] vice President Biden i asked him i have . I think so. Mr. Ambassador, my name is joe biden. [applause] and Everybody Knows i love israel. I was thinking as ron was saying whether a catholic family argues as much as allegedly occurs in jewish families. I will settle all of that. Two of my three children married jews. You want to see what happens then . As a matter of fact, my daughter the dream of every Irish Catholic father is for his daughter to marry a jewish surgeon, and she did. That i want you to know, i think the only time i on record the Oldest Catholic Church in the state or the second oldest 1842, we signed to tuba in a catholic rectory not a joke. [laughter] i think thats a first. And we had a Catholic Priest father murphy, and a rabbi it was hard getting a rabbi, by the way. I had to go up to Montgomery County to find one. The reason he came is his mother loved me. My daughter asked me, she said daddy, what you want played at the wedding . I said maybe a concluding him could be on eagles wings. The rabbi was a wonderful guy literally presided over 75 of the wedding. The vows were administered by the Catholic Priests and as the Wedding Party was departing, as the bride and groom were the parting down the aisle i figured out the one way to and arguments is to marry. The fact of the matter is 77 years ago at midnight on may 14, 1948, against all odds, in the wake of serial tragedy, defiant in the face of overwhelming military numbers massed on its borders, the modern state of israel was born. What you did next [applause] what you did next was no less than miraculous. You were blessed with one of the greatest generations of Founding Fathers and mothers of any nation in the history of the world. Rabin they all fashioned israel into a vibrant democracy. In the process, you build one of the most innovative societies on earth. In the process, you defended your homeland and became the most powerful military in the entire region. All the years later, things have changed. But the danger still exists. The people of israel still live in a dangerous neighborhood. Just to be an israeli still demands uncommon courage. Much has changed but two things have remained absolutely the same the courage of your people and the commitment of mine. [applause] today, we celebrate your independence and our friendship which was born just 11 minutes after israels soundings. President obama and i are proud to Carry Forward the line of american leaders, democrat and republican who have honored americas sacred promise to protect the homeland of the jewish people. It is no secret that like the administration before us, we have our differences. I have been here for a long time, 48 president s. I have witnessed disagreements between administrations. Its only natural for two democracies like ours. As ron said, we are like families. We have a lot to say to one another. Sometimes we drive each other crazy, but we love each other and we protect each other. [applause] i suspect i know many of you personally. As many of you heard me say before, were there no israel america would have to invent one. Because ron is white you protect our interests like we protect yours. [applause] lets get something straight in this moment of some disagreement occasionally between our governments i want to set the record straight on one thing. No president has ever done more to support israel plastic your the then president barack obama. Just look at the facts. [applause] president obama stands up before the world and defends israels right to defend itself. Under president obama, with the United States congress, america has provided 20 billion in military assistance to israel and cutting edge weaponry needed to maintain a Qualitative Advantage against any potential opponent. You all know the stories of the iron down, but you may not know that next year we will deliver to israel the f 35 joint strike fighter, our finest, making israel the only country in the middle east with a fifthgeneration aircraft. [applause] and we continue to discuss as the Israeli Military here any Intelligence Community will tell you, we continue to discuss what more might be done in the near term and the long term to continue to strengthen israel so she can maintain that edge. Our commitment to protect israels security is not just political or National Interest it is personal. It is personal for me and it is personal for the president. You heard me say this but it bears repeating on this day it began at my father is a righteous christian and we assembled to eat and my father talked about how he could not understand why there was a debate among americans or why there was a debate among American Jews about whether or not we should recognize israel. What is there to debate about why we had not done more . When i first learned about bombing the railroad tracks. I learned from my father about concentration camps. And the first thing i did with my children when each one of them turned 13, i took them to europe, flew them directly to dock out. Ciao dachau and made them spend the day there. Ive continued that with my grandchildren. My young grandson finnigan. He was proud, proud to welcome the Vice President and his granddaughter. All you have to do to understand is to stand and look down. I remember when i first did that. All you have to do is wander throughout israel. All you have to do is take that helicopter ride up the entire length of the fence. At all you have to do is look at the map. All you have to do is say [speaking hebrew] i have had the pleasure of knowing every israeli leader since glory my hair gloria my hair. You raised me. You educated me. I know you. Believe me when i tell you, its not only personal to me. Its personal to president obama as well. The president was raised with memories of his great uncle who marched with pattons army to liberate jews from the horrors of buchenwald. I remember sitting in front of golda meiers desk as she was chainsmoking, talking about the losses in the sixday war, talking to the military at case you a attache at the time, a guy named rabin. Barack is 19 years younger and a young senator. He heard about it. As a senator, barack obama went to a small town in israel to see with his own eyes, the families who live under the threat of rockets. As president , he stood in jerusalem and declared to the whole world rejecting israels rights to exist, they might as well reject the earth below them or the sky above them, because israel is not going anywhere. So long as the United States of america is there, israel is not going anywhere. He means it. He means it. I mean it. That is my president. He understands the need for israel to have the right and the cast the capacity and the ability to defend itself. At the same time, he said, we have israels back. And you can count on that. The same commitment that is fundamental to our strategy for the entire middle east. Then we get into the controversial piece. Iran. Remember this is the president who made it through the first time declaring policy of the United States to use all the instruments of our power to prevent not contain prevent iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He has stated all options are on the table your head then he made sure of what did not exist before. He made sure we spent the time and money and the resources to develop the capacity required to act against the capacity to develop a weapon if ever needed. We worked with the u. S. Congress, our european allies. The u. S. Government refused to directly engage and insisted at the same time, iran dismantle its program. The result . By the time president bush had left office, iran had dramatically advances Movement Toward the ability to acquire a nuclear weapon. So, we take a different approach. We had unprecedented pressure with direct diplomacy. Negotiations began. We have all seen the parameters. He made sure that the commitments when and that framework for a final deal. If they do, the path to a bomb would be meaningfully verified. Iran would cut its stockpile. For years, the breakout time would be different than today. It would prevent the reactor from ever being a source all this is not a grand argan between the United States and iran. It is between britain, france germany, the eu, america, and iran. It is hardheaded, uncompromising assessments. If the final deal on the if it doesnt, no deal. A final deal will ensure a breakout timeline at least for one year at least for a decade. If it doesnt, no deal. It is meaningful. A final deal must provide assurance to make sure that the program is effectively peaceful going forward. If it doesnt, no deal. And if there is a chief at any time every option we have today remains on the table, military and more. Every major salt Agreement Start agreement and towards the end, i was deeply involved negotiating when brezhnev was still around. But just like talks with the soviet union another regime that was outrageous and unacceptable, another regime whose proxies were making trouble and we forcefully countered around the world. We negotiated to reduce the Nuclear Threat to prevent a nuclear war and it kept a safer. That is what we are attempting to do today. We also attempt to agree with israel going back decades from rabin to sharon, whose fu