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It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.

Abba Eban

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.
ABBA EBAN

Declare Earth Flat Flattered Introduce Vote
Zionism is nothing more, but also nothing less, than the Jewish People’s sense of origin and destination in the Land linked eternally with its name.
ABBA EBAN

Jewish Land More Nothing People
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.
ABBA EBAN

Arab Government Impulsive Men Missing Rejection Routine Rush Sheer Tempted
His ignorance is encyclopedic.
ABBA EBAN

Clever Encyclopedia Ignorance Sarcastic
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 EBAN

Country Nobody Proclaiming
It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
ABBA EBAN

Experience Leader Leadership Mean Opposite Political
The Jews are the living embodiment of the minority, the constant reminder of what duties societies owe their minorities, whoever they might be.
ABBA EBAN

Constant Embodiment Jews Minority Reminder Society
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.
ABBA EBAN

Ambition Domineer Evil Idolatry Man Nourish Social Source
A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually.
ABBA EBAN

Agrees Belief Collectively Individually Mean Sarcastic
Salvation, the prophets tell us, is preconditioned by repentance. The redeeming act of God waits upon man’s initiative.
ABBA EBAN

God Initiative Men Prophet Salvation Waiting
You can’t achieve anything without getting in someone’s way. You can’t be detached and effective.
ABBA EBAN

Achievement Change Detached Effective Somehow Way
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.
ABBA EBAN

Dialogue Distinction Task World
Tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
ABBA EBAN

Men Missing Suffering Tragedy
Our intention to regard the closing of the Straits as a casus belli was communicated…to the foreign ministers of those states which had supported international navigation in the Straits in 1957 and thereafter.
ABBA EBAN

Cairo Closing Communicate Doubt Foreign Intention Minister Regard State Strait War
History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
ABBA EBAN

Alternative Behave Exhausted Funny History Men Sarcastic Teach War Wise
Human beings act intelligently only after they have exhausted the alternatives
ABBA EBAN

Alternatives Exhausted Human Intelligent

It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.

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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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