Elie Wiesel Quotes

Extol Jewish virtue, modern Zionism and the Israeli Defense Forces.

I think a lot of Jews make Israel the centerpiece of their Judaism. It becomes the centerpiece of their Jewish existence and of their faith. I have always felt that that's not for me.

It's hard for a Jew of my generation, an American Jew, who is philo-Zionistic, not to romanticize Israel.

The real threat to Zionism is the dilution of quality, Jews know that they can land on their feet in any country of the world. The real test for us is to make Israel such an attractive place—such a cutting-edge place in human society, education, culture, science, quality of life that even Americans Jewish young people will want to come here.

As a Jew, support for Israel is in my DNA.

I love the people of Israel. I love the land of Israel. I love the Torah of Israel. I love the Israel Defense Forces. I love our soldiers. If you feel the same way I do, you have a home.

We are one family, and the connection between all Jews, all over the world, is very important to the State of Israel.

As a journalist, I've always treaded carefully about being Jewish and caring a lot about Israel and having that not become too big of an issue that could affect my journalism. But I also don't think it's essential to my Judaism, as I think it might be for some other people.

The argument that all Jews have a heartfelt investment in the state of Israel is untrue. Some have a heartfelt investment in corned beef sandwiches.

I do explicitly see Jewish people as a people - not either a religion or an ethnicity but a people.

Four years ago in speaking of a Jewish nation one ran the risk of being regarded ridiculous. Today he makes himself ridiculous who denies the existence of a Jewish nation.

I feel that I am completely in solidarity with Jews in the world, because I know what it is to be a Jew. I've seen what it is; I am myself of Jewish origin, and therefore I can only be fully in support of the idea that the Jews, after all they've suffered, need a country where they are at home.

If I have to advise our brothers in France, I'll tell them one thing - move to Israel, as early as possible. I say that to Jews all around the world, but there I think it's a must and they have to move immediately.

To be good Americans, we must be better Jews, and to be better Jews, we must become Zionists.

For thousands of years, we Jews have been nourished and sustained by a yearning for our historic land …. I believed and to this day still believe in our people's eternal and historic right to this entire land.

The whole point of Israel was to create a place where Jews could live the best life - and liveliest - in accordance with their values.

This is why I am a Zionist: because Diaspora leads to hatred and the Holocaust.

Israelis are the total Jews.

I am a Jew, and I'm convinced that Israel is the homeland.

I will always be a proud defender of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel.

The Jewish state has so much to teach diaspora Jews about resilience, innovation, energy, and optimism.

Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people, and the modern presence there just cements this.

I respect Israel as hugely special, especially given all the sensitivities around it. The Jews managed to build a country, to elevate it, without anything except people and brains.

Israel has been a stage on which American Jews have played out their fantasies of toughness - often from Martha's Vineyard.

I was born in Israel, to Canadian parents. My father immigrated in 1948, part of a wave of young men and women who came as pioneers, to fight for a Jewish homeland. Their motive was in large part a reaction to the Holocaust, and their slogan was 'Never Again.'