Gerald R. Ford Quotes

I support Israel. And I have long supported a two-state solution and a democratic and secure state for the Jewish people, with a democratic and viable Palestinian state side-by-side in peace and dignity.

The security of Israel is a moral imperative for all free peoples.

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.

It is a false choice to tell Israel that it has to choose between peace on the one hand and security on the other. The United Nations would not ask any other country to make that choice, and it should not ask it of Israel.

Standing up for Israel at home validates those fundamental principles of freedom enshrined in our Constitution.

We have Israel always in our hearts.

I grew up feeling Israel is very important, and I'm very supportive of Israel. At the same time, I think you can be really supportive of Israel and not look at it as a black-and-white situation.

I defend Israel's right to exist, to defend themselves, to not let themselves be exterminated a second time.

As a Zionist youth leader in the 1940s, I was among those who called for a binational state in Mandatory Palestine. When a Jewish state was declared, I felt that it should have the rights of other states - no more, no less.

Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial.

The Arab world needs to appreciate that legitimate historical claims and modern necessities are what make Israel the homeland of the Jewish people.

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.

A precondition for any solution to the Arab Israeli problem must be a recognition on the part of all parties on the legitimacy of all parties. That is, you cannot build a political agreement on the premise that a Jewish state in Palestine is illegitimate.

My thinking is dominated by the future of Israel and the Jewish people wherever they are—in 30 years or 300 years.

When someone denies the right of Israel to exist, it hurts us, just as an attack on a close member of our family would hurt us.

One day before I die, I will finally understand why liberals, especially Jewish liberals, fail to fully support Israel in its right to survive terror attacks.

I'm never going to give up - it's part of my lifeblood to help, protect, and defend Israel.

If the Jewish people want to have an independent state, they must always have the sword in one hand.

Terrorism benefits the Arabs, it may lay waste the Yishuv and shake Zionism. But to follow in the Arabs' footsteps and ape their deeds is to be blind to the gulf between us. Our aims and theirs run counter: methods calculated to further theirs, are ruinous to us…. From Jewish terrorism against Arabs it is a short step to Jewish terrorism against Jews.

The core of the conflict is their (the Palestinians’) reluctance to recognize our right to exist as a nation state of the Jewish people...

The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean disregarding the rights of others in the land.

If there is ever to be an end to the conflict, the Palestinians must recognize the Jewish people's right to a homeland and the existence of an independent Jewish state in the homeland of the Jewish people.

The great question of our day is whether we, the Jewish people of Israel, can find within us the will to survive as a nation.

Israel was founded as a refuge for the Jewish people, but today it isn't a safe place. It is safer to be Jew in New York.

We do not ask Israeli Arabs to share in the Zionist dream. We are asking them to accept that Israel is a Jewish state - the only one in the world.