Prime Minister Quotes



Although Jabotinsky believed that the Arabs would have to be defeated militarily—see {604497}—he and the other Zionist leaders assumed that the eventual state would have Arab citizens. From this beginning, the principle of equal rights and participation in the politics and public affairs of the Jewish state was in the design. See {587034} as to how this manifested itself. The rights possessed by the Arab minority of Israel exceeds not only those of Jews in any Arab nation, and exceeds those of any minority in an Arab state. And because Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, the Arabs of Israel possess more political rights than do Arabs anywhere else in the Middle East. The number of Arab political parties in Israel is larger than that of most Arab nations where opposition parties are rarely permitted.


The Prime Minister was visiting the United States and was staying at the White House. President Roosevelt had a spontaneous thought and wheeled himself into Churchill's room. The Prime Minister was stark naked, having just emerged from the bath. Roosevelt apologized but Churchill was unfazed and known for his nudity in his private quarters. He even used what might have been an awkward moment into an opportunity to make a political point.


When Disraeli first entered politics and tried to run for Parliament the notion that he would ever become Prime Minister was very unrealistic to everyone except Disraeli. In addition to no political experience at the time, he came from a Jewish background at a time when anti-Semitism was very common and acceptable to England. Even if he were not inexperienced and Jewish, he was not part of the British aristocracy and was not socially connected. He also had no large business and industrial connections and no important family connections. However, he was a marvelous writer and speaker, a very fast learner, and turned out to be a political natural. Most historians rate him as one of the two or three greatest British Prime Ministers.