Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its ‘right to exist.’ Israel’s right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved.
ABBA EBANIf Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.
More Abba Eban Quotes
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Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
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A nation writes its history in the image of its ideal.
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A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.
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It [idolatry] nourishes mans ambition to domineer over his fellow man. Idolatry, therefore, is the source of all social and moral evil in the world.
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History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
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Tragedy is the difference between what is and what could have been.
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You can’t achieve anything without getting in someone’s way. You can’t be detached and effective.
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Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals.
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If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.
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Lest Arab governments be tempted out of sheer routine to rush into impulsive rejection, let me suggest that tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
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Science is not a sacred cow. Science is a horse. Don’t worship it. Feed it. [Addressing a group of prospective contributors to an Israeli scientific research program]
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One of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the Gentile world is to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all.
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Tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
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Better to be disliked than pitied.
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It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
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