Talk:Israel

Latest comment: 5 months ago by HouseOfChange in topic Why remove links to WikiQuote articles?

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Israel page.


I've deleted the quotes made by Hamas representative in Lebanon. I fail to see the relation between quotes from a terror organization spokesman to the state of Osrael. I believe quotes in the name of a country (if possible) should at least be from formal documents or politicians, hance I've deleted the quotes from the army Captain. Please do not change it back.

—This unsigned comment is by 89.0.55.186 (talkcontribs) .

More than half of the quotes on this page are irrelevant or very, very highly biased. I've tried taking them down. Sourcing "Israel: an Apartheid State" or quoting Hamas members or radical clerics numerous times, talking about Israeli soldiers emptying clips into children, should be sending up red flags. I've tried to take some of it down, but it keeps getting put up again. But this is ridiculous.

—This unsigned comment is by 68.198.99.236 (talkcontribs) .

Using MEMRI as a source is a bad idea. They are not the least bit reliable. I've kept the quotes, but moved them to unsourced. // Liftarn

yea this is pretty ridiculously biased against israel

Quote disputation edit

Just how seriously do we want this site to be taken? It cannot be taken seriously if it contains "quotes" of a controversial political nature that cannot be easily verified. Thus, the "quote":

"This story about the danger of extermination has been a complete invention and has been blown up a posteriori to justify the annexation of new Arab territories. Mordechai Bentov, cabinet minister, cited in Le Monde, June 3, 1972"

...will be suspected of being pure propaganda, unless there is a reasonable way of verifying that it did indeed appear in Le Monde on the date specified. Otherwise anyone could add the following (fictitious) quote:

"We will fight the Zionist state in the media by fabricating quotes in order to demonize the Zionist leaders, and thousands of people will believe us, because they will know no better. It will be more effective than firing a thousand rockets into the heart of Tel Aviv." Yasser Arafat, Meeting of the PLO Secretariat, Tunisia, July 15, 1983 (from the official minutes).

...and who will be able to disprove that it is authentic? All controversial political quotes must be easily and clearly verifiable or they should be removed. [Ehad Ha'am, Dec 19, 2009]


All of the quotes in this article have citations, which is great. However, I think it is important to be extra-sure that these quotes actually appear in the source material. I have seen so many fabricated quotes about the conflict from both sides that I am weary (sourced quotes about Jews drinking the blood of Palestinian children, etc). Online, I cannot find any sources without an agenda for any of these quotes. Some people say they are true and some say they are not [1]

A lot of these quotes also seem to reflect the "Jews are out to control the world" message. This is controversial, to say the least, and I think it would therefore be in everybody's best interests if we can find a way to verify these quotes, even if we just put links to for-pay newspaper databases.


Is there a way that we can make these quotes more verifiable? 138.16.19.131 04:47, 10 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

I commented out two quotes with easily verifiable sources (links were provided). Btw, we have an entire section called "Unsourced". // Liftarn 12:10, 9 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Unsourced edit

  • Among ourselves, it must be clear that there is no place in the country for both peoples together. With the Arabs we shall not achieve our aim of being an independent people in this country. The only solution is Eretz-Israel, at least the west part of Eretz-Israel, without Arabs . . . And there is no other way but to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighbouring countries. Transfer all of them, not one village or tribe should remain . . .
    • Joseph Weitz, entry in his diary for 1940 (quoted in his article: ‘A solution to the Refugee Problem: An Israeli State with a small Arab Minority’, published in Davar, 29 September, 1967.
  • I gathered all of the Jewish mukhtars, who have contact with Arabs in different villages and asked them to whisper in the ears of some Arabs that a great Jewish reinforcement has arrived in Galilée and that it is going to burn all of the villages of the Huleh. They should suggest to these Arabs, as their friends, to escape while there is still time . . . The tactic reached its goal completely. The building of the police station at Halsa fell into our hands without a shot. The wide areas were cleaned . . .
    • Yigal Allon, Ha Sepher Ha Palmach, Vol. 2, p. 268, 1948.
  • ...as uncontrolled panic spread through all Arab quarters, the Israelis brought up jeeps with loudspeakers which broadcast recorded 'horror sounds'. These included shrieks, wails and anguished moans of Arab women, the wail of sirens and the clang of fire-alarm bells, interrupted by a sepulchral voice calling out in Arabic: ‘Save your souls, all ye faithful: The Jews are using poison gas and atomic weapons. Run for your lives in the name of Allah'.
    • Leo Heiman, Israeli Army Reserve Officer who fought in 1948. Marine Corps Gazette, June 1964.
  • Because we took the land this gives us the image of being bad, of being aggressive. The Jews always considered that the land belonged to them, but in fact it belonged to the Arabs. I would go further: I would say the original source of this conflict lies with Israel, with the Jews – and you can quote me.
    • Yehoshafat Harkabi, former Israeli Chief of Military Intelligence, in ‘Peace Won't be a Plane Ticket to Cairo,’ International Armed Forces Journal, October 1973, p.30.
  • It is unacceptable that nations made up of people who have only just come down from the trees should take themselves for world leaders . . . How can such primitive beings have an opinion of their own?
    • Yitzhak Shamir, in reference to the black African nations who voted in support of the 1975 U.N. resolution, which denounced Zionism as a form of racism, in Yediot Ahronot, November 14, 1975.
  • The thesis that the danger of genocide was hanging over us in June 1967 and that Israel was fighting for its physical existence is only bluff, which was born and developed after the war.
  • Let us not today fling accusations at the murderers. Who are we that we should argue against their hatred? For eight years now they sit in their refugee camps in Gaza, and before their very eyes, we turn into our homestead the land and the villages in which they and their forefathers have lived.
    • Moshe Dayan, 1953, quoted by Uri Avneri in Israel without Zionists, p. 134.
  • I don't understand your optimism. Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country.
    • David Ben Gurion, 1956, quoted by Nahum Goldmann in The Jewish Paradox, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978, p.99.
  • We take the land first and the law comes after.
    • Mr. Palmon, Arab affairs adviser to the Mayor of Jerusalem, quoted in The Guardian, 26 April 1972.
  • We must define our position and lay down basic principles for a settlement. Our demands should be moderate and balanced, and appear to be reasonable. But in fact they must involve such conditions as to ensure that the enemy rejects them. Then we should manoeuvre and allow him to define his own position, and reject a settlement on the basis of a compromise solution. We should then publish his demands as embodying unreasonable extremism.
    • General Yehoshafat Harkabi, Ma'ariv, 2 November 1973.
  • To maintain the status quo will not do. We have to set up a dynamic state bent upon expansion.
    • David Ben Gurion, Rebirth and Destiny of Israel, The Philosophical Press, New York, 1954, p. 419.
  • During the last 100 years our people have been in a process of building up the country and the nation, of expansion, of getting additional Jews and additional settlements in order to expand the borders here. Let no Jew say that the process has ended. Let no Jew say that we are near the end of the road.
  • Palestine is a territory whose chief geographical feature is this: that the river Jordan does not delineate its frontier but flows through its centre.
    • Vladimir Jabotinsky, at the 16th Zionist Congress (1929), quoted by Desmond Stewart in The Middle East: Temple of Janus, p.304.
  • Take the American Declaration of Independence for instance. It contains no mention of the territorial limits. We are not obliged to state the limits of our State.
    • David Ben Gurion diary, 14 May 1948, quoted by Michael Bar Zohar in The Armed Prophet, p.133.
  • The Achilles heel of the Arab coalition is the Lebanon. Muslim supremacy in this country is artificial and can easily be overthrown. A Christian State ought to be set up there, with its southern frontier on the river Litani. We would sign a treaty of alliance with this State. Thus when we have broken the strength of the Arab Legion and bombed Amman, we could wipe out Transjordan; after that Syria would fall. And if Egypt still dared to make war on us, we would bomb Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo. We should thus end the war and would have but paid to Egypt, Assyria and Chaldea on behalf of our ancestors.
    • David Ben Gurion, Diary, 21 May 1948, quoted by Michael Bar Zohar in The Armed Prophet, p.139.
  • I shall not be ashamed to confess that if I had the power, as I have the will, I would select a score of efficient young men – intelligent, decent, devoted to our ideal and burning with the desire to help redeem Jews – and I would send them to the countries where Jews are absorbed in sinful self-satisfaction. The task of these young men would be to disguise themselves as non-Jews, and plague Jews with anti-Semitic slogans such as 'Bloody Jew', 'Jews go to Palestine' and similar intimacies. I can vouch that the results in terms of a considerable immigration to Israel from these countries would be ten thousand times larger than the results brought by thousands of emissaries who have been preaching for decades to deaf ears.
    • Davar, 1952, Editor Sharan, quoted by Alfred Lilienthal in The Other Side of the Coin, Devin-Adair, New York, p.47.
  • We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel . . . Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours.
    • Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces – Gad Becker, Yediot Ahronot 13 April 1983, New York Times 14 April 1983.
  • We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return.
    • David Ben Gurion, in his diary, 18 July 1948, quoted in Michael Bar Zohar's Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet, Prentice-Hall, 1967, p. 157.
  • I have the hope and a prayer that the State of Israel will flourish as a Jewish state within secure and recognized borders in peaceful co-existence with its neighbors and with all the Moslem States, and that this peaceful co-existence will bring security, prosperity and happiness to the people of Israel and to the people of the Middle East of all faiths.
  • We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!'
    • Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979.
  • There are some who believe that the non-Jewish population, even in a high percentage, within our borders will be more effectively under our surveillance; and there are some who believe the contrary, i.e., that it is easier to carry out surveillance over the activities of a neighbor than over those of a tenant. [I] tend to support the latter view and have an additional argument: . . . the need to sustain the character of the state which will henceforth be Jewish . . . with a non-Jewish minority limited to 15 percent. I had already reached this fundamental position as early as 1940 [and] it is entered in my diary.
    • Joseph Weitz, head of the Jewish Agency's Colonization Department. From Israel: an Apartheid State by Uri Davis, p.5.
  • Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours . . . Everything we don't grab will go to them.
    • Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of militants from the Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998.
  • Spirit the penniless population across the frontier by denying it employment . . . Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.
    • Theodore Herzl, founder of the World Zionist Organization, speaking of the Arabs of Palestine, Complete Diaries, June 12, 1895 entry.
  • We will establish ourselves in Palestine whether you like it or not . . .You can hasten our arrival or you can equally retard it. It is however better for you to help us so as to avoid our constructive powers being turned into a destructive power which will overthrow the world.
  • I'm a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.
    • Haim Saban explaining how to make your political donations go further in NYT, September 5, 2004.
  • I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations … They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern."
    • John Adams (From a letter to F. A. Van der Kemp [Feb. 16, 1808] Pennsylvania Historical Society)
  • I am in the West, but my heart is in the farthest East...Oh, how I would give up all the goodness of Spain, just to see the dust of Your ruined sanctuary!
    • On yearning for Israel, Yehuda Halevi, Spanish Poet, "Libi BeMizrach"
  • We would not become unworthy of the grace that God grants us to be able to die willingly and gloriously as free men, a happiness that those who cherished the hope of being invincible have never known.
    • Eliezer Ben Yair, commander of the last independent garrison in Israel on the eve of its capture, 73 AD. Quoted in F. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, VII, 34
  • In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.
    • David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister from an interview at CBS News on October 5th, 1956
  • It is permissible to destroy everything.
  • This story about the danger of extermination has been a complete invention and has been blown up a posteriori to justify the annexation of new Arab territories.
    • Mordechai Bentov, cabinet minister, cited in Le Monde, June 3, 1972

Unsourced edit

  • Americans admire a people who can scratch a desert and produce a garden. The Israelis have shown qualities that Americans identify with: guts, patriotism, idealism, a passion for freedom. I have seen it. I know. I believe that.
  • Israel is still the only country in the world against which there is a written document to the effect that it must disappear.
    • Menachem Begin, on the PLO Charter, which calls for the elimination of Israel.
  • No more wars, no more bloodshed. Peace unto you. Shalom, salaam, forever.
    • Menachem Begin, on signing the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Washington, D.C., March 26, 1979.
  • Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us
  • In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.
  • Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil!
    • Golda Meir, at a dinner honoring West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, as reported in The New York Times (10 June 1973)
  • Israel was not created in order to disappear – Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom.
  • I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.
  • I will continue to believe that Israel’s security is paramount.
  • Our forces saved the remnants of the Jewish people of Europe for a new life and a new hope in the reborn land of Israel. Along with all men of good will, I salute the young state and wish it well.
  • I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it – not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.
  • Harry S. Truman
  • We will stand up for our friends in the world. And one of the most important friends is the State of Israel. My administration will be steadfast in support Israel against terrorism and violence, and in seeking the peace for which all Israelis pray.
  • Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom, and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life.
  • The only thing chicken about Israel is their soup.
  • I’m always in favor of Israel responding strongly when it’s threatened. At the same time, a response to a response doesn’t really solve anything. It just creates a perpetual-motion machine.
  • My commitment to the security and future of Israel is based upon basic morality as well as enlightened self-interest. Our role in supporting Israel honors our own heritage.
  • But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel.
    • Theodore Bikel
  • America and Israel share a special bond. Our relationship is unique among all nations. Like America, Israel is a strong democracy, a symbol of freedom, and an oasis of liberty, a home to the oppressed and persecuted.
    • William J. Clinton
  • This resolution simply says Israel has the right to defend itself. This includes conducting operations both inside its borders and in the territory of nations that threaten it, which is in accordance with international law.
  • The United States and Israel have a unique relationship based on our mutual commitment to democracy, freedom, and peace. Therefore, just as our commitment to these principles must be steadfast, so must our support for Israel.
  • The aggressive, unprovoked acts of violence against Israel by Hezbollah and Hamas are revealing. It is clear they don’t want peace, but rather seek the ultimate destruction of Israel ... Since its first day as a nation, Israel has lived under a cloud of aggression from militant extremists and hostile neighboring governments ... Each and every day, Israel’s very existence is at stake.
  • I believe that the people of Israel are the chosen people of God.
  • I defend Israel’s right to exist, to defend themselves, to not let themselves be exterminated a second time.
  • Soldiers of Israel, we have no aims of conquest. Our purpose is to bring to naught the attempts of the Arab armies to conquer our land ... Israel cannot afford to stand against the entire world and be denounced as the aggressor.
  • 9/11 was a deliberate, carefully planned evil act of the long-waged war on the West by Koran-inspired soldiers of Allah around the world. They hated us before George W. Bush was in office. They hated us before Israel existed. And the avengers of the religion of perpetual outrage will keep hating us.
    • Michelle Malkin
  • As long as the Palestinians send terrorists onto school buses and to nightclubs to blow up people, Israel has no choice but to build the fence.
    • Charles Schumer
  • I never thought I’d live to see the day that an American administration would denounce the state of Israel for rebuilding Jerusalem.
    • Mike Pence
  • And by the way, a piece of news, Israel is the one country in which everyone is pro-American, opposition and coalition alike. And I represent the entire people of Israel who say, ‘Thank you, America.” And we’re friends of America, and we’re the only reliable allies of America in the Middle East.
  • I think that a strong Israel is the only Israel that will bring the Arabs to the peace table.
  • First of all, Arafat is wrong. Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, will never be divided, and will remain the capital of the State of Israel, the capital of the Jewish people, for ever and ever.
  • But so far, you know who’s been violating the nuclear nonproliferation pact day and night? Those who signed it. Iran, Iraq, Libya and Iran violates it while calling for Israel’s destruction and racing to develop atomic weapons to that end.
  • So I think we should stay focused on the real problem in the Middle East. It’s not Israel. It’s these dictatorships that are developing nuclear weapons with the specific goal of wiping Israel away.
  • You know, I think, I think the Palestinians are trying to get away without negotiating. They’re trying to get a state to continue the conflict with Israel rather than to end it. They’re trying to basically detour around peace negotiations by going to the U.N. and have the automatic majority in the U.N. General Assembly give them, give them a state.
  • Well, this is an unfortunate part of the UN institution. It’s the – the theater of the absurd. It doesn’t only cast Israel as the villain; it often casts real villains in leading roles: Gadhafi’s Libya chaired the UN Commission on Human Rights; Saddam’s Iraq headed the UN Committee on Disarmament.
  • My first name, Benjamin, dates back a thousand years earlier to Benjamin – Binyamin – the son of Jacob, who was also known as Israel. Jacob and his 12 sons roamed these same hills of Judea and Sumeria 4,000 years ago, and there’s been a continuous Jewish presence in the land ever since.
  • I often hear them accuse Israel of Judaizing Jerusalem. That’s like accusing America of Americanizing Washington, or the British of Anglicizing London. You know why we’re called ‘Jews’? Because we come from Judea.
  • The central premise behind Oslo was that if Arafat were given enough legitimacy, territory, weapons and money, he would use his power to fight terror and make peace with Israel.
  • When the President of Iran talks about removing Israel from the face of the Earth and is building nuclear bombs with a range of 3000km, you have to be worried.
  • Growing up in Israel, how can I not be an optimist? When you remember what Israel was 50 years ago and you see Israel now, one of the most successful countries in the world, stable, democratic, with an enormously stable economy despite everything that has happened in the global economy in the last few years, how can I not be an optimist?
  • I never thought that Syria and Israel should engage in a violent confrontation because I don’t think that there is any particular interest for any of us to do it.
    • Ehud Olmert
  • Israel always has to be in a position to defend itself against any adversary and against any threat of any kind.
    • Ehud Olmert
  • Peace is important for Israel.
    • Ehud Olmert
  • Israel will not tolerate a situation in which Iran has effective control of non-conventional weapons that can be used directly against the state of Israel ... Iran is a major threat to the well-being of Europe and America just as much as it is for the state of Israel.

Ehud Olmert

  • Many of the Europeans who want Israel to go away don’t even know why they do. Nearly a third of those interviewed concede they have no idea what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all about. It’s enough to know that Israelis are Jews.
    • Suzanne Fields
  • You still can’t find Israel on a map of the Middle East in a Palestinian schoolbook.
    • Suzanne Fields
  • The moral equation strongly tells everyone who understands freedom, who understands morality, that Israel is engaging in a just war in defense of its people and its freedom.
    • George Pataki
  • Israel is a country that respects freedom – freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and freedom of worship.
    • George Pataki
  • Christianity emerged from the religion of Israel. Or rather, it has as its background a persistent strain in that religion. To that strain Christians have looked back, and rightly, as the preparation in history for their faith.
    • Kenneth Scott Latourette
  • I have been defending Israel’s right to exist, and to defend itself against terrorism, for many years-on college campuses, in television appearances and in debate.
  • Every dollar that we send in State Department aid or humanitarian aid that saves us from having to get involved with very expensive military actions is a good investment. And frankly, helping Israel fight terrorism in the Middle East is much cheaper than us fighting it here on our shores.
  • In fact, the Iraqi foreign minister admitted in March 2003 that Iraqi funds were sent to families of Palestinian suicide bombers who attacked and killed innocent Israeli citizens, and also 12 Americans in Israel in 2003.
    • Jim Gerlach
  • Iran has long sponsored terrorists who carry out homicide bombings in Israeli cities. However, it is a mistake to believe the danger Iran poses is directed at Israel alone.
    • John Doolittle
  • In 1975 I was among a group of blacks who formed the Black Americans in Support of Israel Committee.
    • David Dinkins
  • If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.
  • The State of Israel has faced obstacles and challenges to its very survival, with conventional military attacks leading the way to suicide bombers who have killed innocent Israeli men, women, and children.
    • Jerry Costello
  • Through these adversities, Israel has endured with continued strength, conviction, and faith.
    • Jerry Costello
  • Under Hitler it was the entrepreneurial and professional classes who were the first victims of Nazi boycotts and exclusion. Today it is Israel, the most powerful symbol of Jewish national resurgence in two millennia.
    • Jack Schwartz
  • Israel has an important principle: It is only Israel that is responsible for our security.
  • Israel’s willingness to cooperate closely with the U.S. in protecting American interests in the region altered her image in the eyes of many officials in Washington.
    • Yitzhak Rabin
  • And if we are honest we have to make a distinction between a democratic Israel that wants to live in peace and the terrorists who want Israel wiped out. The Israelis were told to give up land for peace; they gave up the land, but got no peace.
    • J. D. Hayworth
  • If you live in Israel and you see the way life is there and then you go abroad and see the way Israel is reported on, the way that Israel gets reported on night after night is simply pictures of bombings or military actions.
    • Douglas Feith
  • But Hezbollah now has reared its ugly head in a way that threatens the entire free world. And they want, by their own charter and definition, the destruction of Israel and Christians. That is the truth. That is in their charter.
    • Zach Wamp
  • Hamas, also elected to governmental leadership in Palestine, includes the jihadists, people who have declared war on the United States of America and its ally, Israel.
    • Zach Wamp
  • If we pulled out of Iraq tomorrow, Islamic jihadism is on the rise. And they continue, as we see in Lebanon, to seek to destroy the State of Israel and seek to drive America back and bring us to our knees. We must stand tall and straight.
    • Zach Wamp
  • The Iranian regime gives financial support to terrorist organizations all over the world, denies the Holocaust, and calls for the wiping the state of Israel from the map, while developing long-range missiles and trying to obtain nuclear weapon.
    • Moshe Katsav
  • I am proud to be the president of the state of Israel.
    • Moshe Katsav
  • Our Christian conviction is that Christ is also the messiah of Israel. Certainly it is in the hands of God how and when the unification of Jews and Christians into the people of God will take place.
  • We would like to have friendly regimes with enough broad participation of their populations to maintain long-term stability, so that we would have not only access to the region’s wealth, but we would be able to ensure the security of our good friend Israel.
    • Frank Carlucci
  • The U.S. and Israel probably lead the way in terms of venture investment in technologies companies focused on the security paradigm. That is quite encouraging.
    • John W. Thompson
  • In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
  • Israel has created a new image of the Jew in the world – the image of a working and an intellectual people, of a people that can fight with heroism.
    • David Ben-Gurion
  • There is no truth which the prophets press more steadily upon Israel than that all their national life lies in the sight and on the care of God.
    • George A. Smith
  • The United States is a strong and ardent ally of Israel. The fact of the matter is that friends can disagree. I think what’s important is that world leaders are able to sit down with one another, have frank conversations and move forward.
    • Valerie Jarrett
  • Most students have thoughts about emigrating to Israel. A significant number go on aliyah. We are proud of our Israel programs, which come at a considerable cost to the university.
  • Unprovoked attacks on Israel’s borders, murdering Israeli soldiers, taking Israeli hostages and showering rockets targeting and killing Israeli civilians are not furthering any legitimate goal.
    • Alcee Hastings
  • Israel is the canary in the mine. What happens to Israel will eventually happen to America itself.
  • Overwhelmingly, Israel’s political and military establishment want the rest of the world to act diplomatically or otherwise to stop Iran. But if that doesn’t happen, then the impulse toward the use of force will become quite strong.
  • As a result of the historic catastrophe in which Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Israel was exiled from its land, I was born in one of the cities of the Exile.
    • Shmuel Y. Agnon
  • I have also written a book about the Giving of the Torah, and a book on the Days of Awe, and a book on the books of Israel that have been written since the day the Torah was given to Israel.
    • Shmuel Y. Agnon
  • Israel’s capital will never again be a divided city, a city with a wall at its center, a city in which two flags fly. This city, will, in its entirety, absorb immigrants, welcome pilgrims and be the eternal capital of Israel forever.
    • Yitzhak Shamir
  • We have said that Israel has had a very bad history with the United Nations, and whoever cares for himself in Israel distances himself from that Organization.
    • Yitzhak Shamir
  • The driving force for the Arabs is hatred of Israel. Hatred of the Jewish people.
    • Yitzhak Shamir
  • There are plenty of opportunities for common grounds that we need to explore and strengthen. The Hispanic community has a strong affinity for our relationship with Israel.
    • Robert Menendez
  • The truth about Hamas and Islamic Jihad is that they don’t prevent Israel from existing or even flourishing, they prevent Palestine from coming into existence.
  • I’m absolutely convinced of that. Israel is the representative of the United States in that part of the world. Its policies are so integrated with American policies that they use the same language.
  • The Palestinian Authority refuses on an ongoing basis to take the necessary steps to prevent terrorists from getting into Israel.
    • David Baker
  • As Israel prepares to enter, my position is well known. It is one that I have taken at previous Olympics. It is wrong that the IOC refuses to have a minute’s silence for Israeli athletes that were slaughtered in Munich.
    • Brian Williams
  • I’ve always thought that if Israel really wanted to solve the problem, they’d just start tomorrow and push right to the Jordan River, and anything in their way goes. They don’t need America or someone else to help.
    • Bruce Dern
  • I’ve always been supportive of the right of Israel as a state, and I’ve always fought against anti-Semitism, even in my own community.
    • Harry Belafonte
  • Israel is one of the easiest places to play ball. When I say easy I am referring to the easy lifestyle an athlete has while in Israel. It’s very easy to get around the country, because it’s so small.
    • Michael Kennedy
  • Not only must Americans admire Israel, there can be no doubt that we have an interest in, and special responsibility for, that valiant nation.
    • George Ball
  • Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs can be elected to the parliament in a democratic election.
    • Adam Michnik
  • The most important sign in Matthew has to be the restoration of the Jews to the land in the rebirth of Israel.
    • Hal Lindsey

Why remove links to WikiQuote articles? edit

People who visit WikiQuote come here for the quotes, those who want basic information go to Wikipedia. Every WikiQuote article is already connected via a link to Wikipedia.

So, why remove links to WikiQuote articles and replace then with with links to Wikipedia? Ottawahitech (talk) 15:13, 23 October 2023 (UTC)Reply

I agree that links to related Wikiquote articles are a good idea; the way to do that is to put such links under "See also." The introductory section of an article is to give information about the topic, in this case, Israel. Links in the introductory section are to help clarify confusing aspects of the topic. HouseOfChange (talk) 20:33, 23 October 2023 (UTC)Reply
Actually, it has been standard practice to link to WQ pages if appropriate (meaning that we don't need to link every word, but when there is a page worthy of linking, it is good to do so) and if they exist - if not, then link to WP pages. And there isn't really a problem with having such a link in the intro as well as in a See also section - the use of one does not preclude the other. ~ UDScott (talk) 20:59, 23 October 2023 (UTC)Reply
@UDScott: Although I don't think the one-quote WQ page Gaza is "a page worthy of linking," I yield to consensus that a link to it in the lead should replace a link to the relevant en-wiki article. HouseOfChange (talk) 22:16, 23 October 2023 (UTC)Reply
Return to "Israel" page.