Barack Obama Quotes

Israel believes, when it comes right down to it America is the only big country that cares whether they live or die. That's why I can say, give up the West Bank, because the Israelis knew that if the Iraqi or the Iranian army came across the Jordan river, I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die, and I would.

The historic nature of Israel's struggle for self-determination, freedom, and prosperity underscores the gravity of their circumstances and fortifies my commitment to America's responsibility as their ally.

Israel ranks her priorities in the following way: security, land, and water.

Everyone should unconditionally accept that Israel is an indispensable element of the Middle Eastern mosaic.

I will continue to believe that Israel's security is paramount.

Any state surrounded by enemies will seek strategic depth.

(When British troops were still garrisoned in Egypt, Nasser requested arms from the United States.) You can't give them (the Egyptians) arms with which to kill British soldiers who fought shoulder to shoulder with you in the war (World War II.)

America’s military bases around the world are centers of stability in unstable regions.

One hour ago, President Johnson informed me that Egyptian forces are preparing an attack on Israeli positions and that this attack is to be launched. If such a thing happens, then the United States will consider itself freed from the commitments it gave to the USSR to exercise restraint.

Israel is absolutely critical to American national security.

For Israel there is tension between our values and the brutal reality [of the Middle East]

Israel has a security concern involving geography. But geography does not have the same value it did in 1967.

Israel may be beloved, but for American security, it is not essential.

In 1993, Israel and North Korea were moving towards an agreement in which North Korea would stop sending any missiles or military technology to the Middle East and Israel would recognize that country. President Clinton intervened and blocked it.

There's been a significant amount of Israelis who are joining my party because they think that Israel has to have a tough stance in this crazy environment called the Middle East.

Israel is our ally and in that we've made a very strong commitment to support Israel, we will support Israel if her security is threatened.

This is why, as a prime minister of Israel, I can promise you one more thing: Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. But I know that Israel does not stand alone. I know that America stands with Israel.

America was the funder of petro-dictatorships. We treated all these countries as basically big, large gas stations: Libya station, Iraq station, Iran station, Egypt station, Syria station, and all we asked of them were three things: Keep your palms open, your prices low and don't bother Israel too much, and you can do whatever you want to your own people.

I think we have to knock out ISIS. Right now Syria is fighting ISIS. We have people who want to fight both at the same time. But Syria is no longer Syria; Syria is Russia and Iran, who she made strong, and Kerry and Obama made into a very powerful nation and very rich nation very, very quickly. Very, very quickly. I believe we have to get ISIS.

I know that Israel does not stand alone. I know that America stands with Israel.

I had said from the start that I thought Iraq was a mistake, that we should have stayed focused on Afghanistan. I think it was the right decision because the Taliban at that point had gotten a lot of momentum before I'd gotten into office, partly because we hadn't been paying attention as much as we needed to to Afghanistan.

If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.

Israel is a solid ally of the United States. We will rise to Israel's defense, if need be. So this kind of menacing talk [by the President of Iran] is disturbing. It's not only disturbing to the United States, it's disturbing for other countries in the world, as well. Asked whether he meant the U.S. would rise to Israel's defense militarily, Bush said: "You bet, we'll defend Israel."

[Donald Trump] attitude towards our longest defense alliance and NATO, that we should somehow walk away from it.

To honor the people that died, we need to stop the Iran agreement, for sure, because the Iranian mullahs have their blood on their hands, and we need to take out ISIS with every tool at our disposal.