New York today receives us as hospitably as it always has. Why then did we witness two months ago a terrorist act that shook the world? If I may be allowed, it is because New York is the city of the world that best represents the values which the twentieth century defended at a cost of so much suffering: its welcome to those who were persecuted by intolerance of all kinds, its respect for all nationalities, races and religions, respect for all ideas, freedom to think and to create, opportunities for all to succeed, and its protection of individual rights through democracy.