Menachem Begin Quotes

Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth.

- Menachem Begin

He who threatens us will find us deaf to his threats. We are willing to listen only to rational arguments.

- Menachem Begin

My colleagues and I have gone in the footsteps of our predecessors since the very first day we were called by our people to care for their future. We went any place, we looked for any avenue, we made any effort to bring about negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, negotiations without which peace remains an abstract desire.

- Menachem Begin

The Palestinian Arabs will have their autonomy, we will have our security. We shall live together.

- Menachem Begin

We of course will say we claim sovereignty of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district. Others will come, and they will say we claim sovereignty. What can be the outcome?

- Menachem Begin

There are those who say we must rescind the Golan Heights law that was passed in the Knesset. To rescind is a concept from the days of the Inquisition. Our forefathers were burned at the stake and would not rescind their faith.

- Menachem Begin

Lebanon, of course, is a country with great problems. Traditionally, they have religious-national groups or ethnic-national groups. They have the Druses. Even the two Moslem sects, the Sunnis and the Shiites, are apart. Then they have the armed groups. Everybody's got a private army.

- Menachem Begin

There must be some security arrangement in the south of Lebanon so northern Israel is not threatened anymore.

- Menachem Begin

We do not covet one inch of Lebanese territory, and the basis for the peace treaty between our two countries will be the international border, which exists now, between Rosh Haniqra and Ras en Naqura.

- Menachem Begin

We attacked selected military targets of the P.L.O. Around, civilians were hurt, I don't want to deny it. Very regrettable, very regrettable. We regret it deeply.

- Menachem Begin

UNIFIL was a complete disappointment. But a kind of multinational force.

- Menachem Begin

In peace, the Middle East, the ancient cradle of civilization, will become invigorated and transformed. Throughout its lands there will be freedom of movement of people, of ideas, of goods.

- Menachem Begin

We don't need legitimacy. We exist. Therefore we are legitimate.

- Menachem Begin

You want me to become a leaker? I'm not. I do not leak any news from the Cabinet sessions.

- Menachem Begin

No one will frighten the large and free Jewish community of the United States.

- Menachem Begin

Operation Peace for Galilee is not a military operation resulting from the lack of an alternative.

- Menachem Begin

You annex foreign land, not your own country.

- Menachem Begin

The ancient Jewish people gave the world the vision of eternal peace, of universal disarmament, of abolishing the teaching and learning of war.

- Menachem Begin

The framework for peace signed by Egypt and Israel is almost a peace treaty. We solved the problem for the peace treaty 98%.

- Menachem Begin

We want a full peace, normalization in all fields.

- Menachem Begin

The German debt to the Jewish people can never end, not in this generation and not in any other.

- Menachem Begin

I come to Jerusalem. There, the sky is blue and memory becomes clear.

- Menachem Begin

After 1957, Israel had to wait 10 full years for its flag to fly again over that liberated portion of the homeland.

- Menachem Begin

The people of Israel have lived 3,700 years without a memorandum of understanding with America and will continue to live without it another 3,700 years.

- Menachem Begin