Menachem Begin

Menachem Wolfovitch Begin (August 16, 1913-March 9, 1992) ( name in Hebrew: {{Audio|He-Menachem_Begin.ogg|??????? ???????}} ) became the 6th Prime Minister of Israel in May 1977. With the mediation of US President Jimmy Carter, Begin negotiated the Camp David Accords with President Sadat of Egypt, agreeing on the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from the Sinai Peninsula and its return to Egypt. Begin and Sadat were awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for this implementation of "Land for peace".

Quotes

Menachem Begin, the day after the UN vote on the 1947 UN Partition Plan:

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:The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized .... Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever.

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Soon after Menachem Begin and the Likud party won the Israeli election in 1977, the government's foreign policy was stated as follows:

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:The Jewish people have unchallengeable, eternal, historic right to the Land of Israel including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the inheritance of their forefathers (and he pledged to build rural and urban exclusive Jewish colonies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (Iron Wall, p. 354-355)

Related Topics:
Jew - Land of Israel - West Bank - Gaza Strip

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Menachem Begin, Broadcast to the Egyptian People, November 11, 1977.

Related Topics:
November 11 - 1977

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:No more wars, no more bloodshed, and no more threats.

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Menachem Begin, Nobel Lecture, December 10, 1978:

Related Topics:
December 10 - 1978

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:Free women and men everywhere must wage an incessant campaign so that these human values become a generally recognized and practised reality. We must regretfully admit that in various parts of the world this is not yet the case. Without those values and human rights the real peace of which we dream is jeopardized.

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When President Ronald Reagan sent a letter to Menachem Begin condemning the attack on the Iraqi civilian nuclear reactor in June 1981, Begin responded with a letter, he wrote:

Related Topics:
Ronald Reagan - Nuclear reactor - 1981

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:A million and half children were poisoned by the Zyklon gas during the Holocaust. Now Israel's children were about to be poisoned by radioactivity. For two years we have lived in the shadow of the danger awaiting Israel from nuclear reactor in Iraq. This would have been a new Holocaust. It was prevented by the heroism of our pilots to whom we owe so much. (Iron Wall, p. 387)

Related Topics:
Zyklon - The Holocaust - Radioactivity

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As a justification for the invasion of Lebanon. On June 5, 1982 he told the Israeli cabinet:

Related Topics:
Lebanon - 1982

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:The hour of decision has arrived. You know what I have done, and what all of us have done. To prevent war and bereavement. But our fate is that in the Land of Israel there is no escape from fighting in the spirit of self-sacrifice. Believe me, the alternative to fighting is Treblinka, and we have resolved that there would be no Treblinkas. This is the moment in which courageous choice has to be made. The criminal terrorists and the world must know that the Jewish people have a right to self-defense, just like any other people. (Iron Wall, p. 404-405).

Related Topics:
Treblinka - Terrorist - Self-defense

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