Shimon Peres Quotes

Unlike Hezbollah, Israel's more modest aim is to survive, and that it has done.

The Israelis know 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

Anyone who clings to the historically untrue and thoroughly immoral doctrine that violence never solves anything, I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The Ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more disputes in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.

We all want peace. Unfortunately, there are times when peace must be defended by fighting terror and tyranny.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon - no alternative.

Soldiers of Israel, we have no aims of conquest. Our purpose is to bring to naught the attempts of the Arab armies to conquer our land.

If we must fight, then by God we will fight. And I hope they [the Croats and Bosnians] will not be so crazy as to fight against us. Because if we don’t know how to work well or to do business, at least we know how to fight well.

Any state surrounded by enemies will seek strategic depth.

In order to have defense here at home, we have to have offense in Iraq and Iran.

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.

… without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house.... Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that accompanies and consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who sit all around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood.

There is no more Palestine. Finished ...

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

Yoiu have to fight in order to live in peace.

Israel has a right to defend itself.

Israel is not Vegas, and it will not be.

Most wars are fought for greed, but we are luckier here we fight for our lives and the lives of the people we love.

Mankind has had ten-thousand years of experience at fighting and if we must fight, we have no excuse for not fighting well.

Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight.

The history of Israel is divided into two parts. One, under attack that we have had to defend ourselves. When you defend yourself your thinking is totally different from when you want to make peace. So under attack you behave like if you want a hawk, when peace comes you become a dove.

The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war.

I don't think that anyone should doubt Israel's determination to defend itself against terror and destruction.

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.

In a world of danger and trial, peace is our deepest aspiration, and when peace comes we will gladly convert not our swords into plowshares, but our bombs into peaceful reactors, and our planes into space vessels. "Pursue peace," the Bible tells us, and we shall pursue it with every effort and every energy that we possess. But it is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.