The Flag of Israel

My Israeli-related Flickr Albums and Galleries

Flowers of Israel

YAMAM – ימ"מ – Israel's National Counter-Terror Unit

Israeli Air Force – חיל האוויר הישראלי

Iron Dome – כיפת ברזל

What Great People Said About Israel

• “I love the people of Israel. I love the land of Israel. I love the Torah of Israel. I love the Israel Defense Forces. I love our soldiers. If you feel the same way I do, you have a home.” –Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel

•  “I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it - not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.” –Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America in 1948

• "Israel was not created in order to disappear – Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and honors the sword of freedom." –John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America 

• "Israel has created a new image of the Jew in the world - the image of a working and an intellectual people, of a people that can fight with heroism." –Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (b. 1904)

• "No more wars, no more bloodshed. Peace unto you. Shalom, salaam, forever." –Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel and Nobel Prize laureate

• "We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon – no alternative." –Golda Meir (1898–1978), Prime Minister of Israel

• “The great thing that Israel has is Israelis.” –Helen Mirren

• “Were I to sum up the Basle Congress in a word - which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly- it would be this: ‘At Basle, I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. If not in 5 years, certainly in 50, everyone will know it.”  –Theodor Herzl, Diaries, 1897

• “It doesn't matter what the world says about Israel; it doesn't matter what they say about us anywhere else. The only thing that matters is that we can exist here on the land of our forefathers. And unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won't survive.” –David Ben-Gurion, as quoted by Ariel Sharon, in the documentary “The 50 Years War: Israel & The Arabs” (1999).

• “And Israel is not only our ally; it is a beacon of what democracy can and should mean… If the people of the Middle East are not sure what democracy means, let them look to Israel.” –Hillary Clinton

• “In defeating terror, Israel’s cause is our cause.” –Hillary Clinton

• “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.” –Martin Luther King, Jr., March 25, 1968, less than 2 weeks before his death

• “In Israel, a land lacking in natural resources, we learned to appreciate our greatest national advantage: our minds. Through creativity and innovation, we transformed barren deserts into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology.” –Shimon Peres, Prime Minister and 9th President of Israel  

• “The purpose of the Jewish state is to secure the Jewish future. That is why Israel must always have the ability to defend itself, against any threat.” –Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel

• “If the Jews are denied the right to live in freedom and peace, soon we will all be denied this right. If the light of Israel is extinguished, we will all face darkness. If Israel falls, the West falls. That is why we are all Israel.” –Geert Wilders, speech delivered in Tel Aviv in December of 2010, quoted in The Blaze: "‘Marked for Death’: Beck Interviews Anti-Islamist Dutch MP Geert Wilders" (2 May 2012).

• “One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to recognize that this hate of Israel is profoundly anti-Semitic. Such hostile sentiments, sometimes disguised as a 'legitimate' critique of Israeli politics, has been called the "new" anti-Semitism.” –Natan P.F. Kellermann, "Antisemitism", Jewish Mag

• “Israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established... In Israel our hope for peace never wanes. Our scientists, doctors, and innovators apply their genius to improve the world of tomorrow. Our artists, our writers, enrich the heritage of humanity. Now, I know that this is not exactly the image of Israel that is often portrayed…” –Benjamin Netanyahu, address to the U.N. General Assembly (23 September 2011).

• “As a Jew I am aware of how important the existence of Israel is for the survival of us all. And because I am proud of being Jewish, I am worried by the growing anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the world.” –Steven Spielberg

• “When I was a child, Israel was a legend more than a reality. She emerged from a dream, and today she has surpassed that dream.” –Shimon Peres, Prime Minister and 9th President of Israel 

•  “In the Jewish tradition, there is at the same time Jerusalem in the heavens and Jerusalem on the ground. Jerusalem is a living city, but also the heart, the soul of the Jewish people and the state of Israel.” –Yitzhak Rabin

• “The State of Israel must be at the forefront of global science - in physics, in mathematics, in medicine, in biology.” –Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel

•  “Israel never targets civilians deliberately, period.” –Naftali Bennett 

• “The better and stronger we make Israel, the safer we make the world.” –Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the UN, 2019

• "In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles." –David Ben-Gurion

• "Israel has its attractions. It's the most dramatic country in the world. Everybody's engaged. Everybody argues. When I leave Israel, I get a little bit bored, you know?" –Shimon Peres, Prime Minister and 9th President of Israel 

• "No country in the history of the world has ever contributed more to humankind and accomplished more for its people in so brief a period of time as Israel has done since its relatively recent rebirth in 1948." –Alan Dershowitz

• “Who dares wins.” –The motto of the IDF’s Sayeret Matkal

• “I pursue my enemies and overtake them, never turning back until they were consumed.” –The motto of the YAMAM, Israel’s National Counter-Terrorism Unit

• “The Unseen Shield” –Motto of the Shin-Bet, Israel Security Agency (ISA)

• “Always First” –Motto of the IDF Combat Engineering Corps

• “D9 = one CAT, nine lives” –IDF combat engineers about the survivability of the IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer, nicknamed “Doobi” (=teddybear) and “CAT D9”

• “Interviewer: The fact that are a lot more Palestinian deaths than Israeli, does it make Israel look bad … in the eyes of the global public? Naftali Bennett: So do you think more Jews should die? How many Jews should die for the world to feel this is acceptable?” –Naftali Bennett, Operation Guardian of the Walls, May 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy-bPEy-RIY)

• “Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation.” –Gal Gadot

• “The people of Israel are not are not occupiers in the Land of Israel. History, archeology and common sense all make clear that we have had a historic attachment for this land over 3000 years.” –Benjamin Netanyahu

• “The same people who call for Israel's restraint against terrorist groups that fire rockets at Israeli civilians are now opposed to funding the Iron Dome. The Iron Dome saves both Israeli and Palestinian lives. Without it, there will only be more terror and violence.” –Nikki Haley, 22nd September 2021

• “I am proud of religious Zionism. I am proud of the members of religious Zionism because it is a true ideological public.” –Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel

• “For Israel to retain its amazing position as the largest concentration of high tech after Silicon Valley, we need more engineers and mathematicians. We have too many lawyers.” –Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel

•  “We need to do everything possible to save the Jewish state. We don't have another Jewish state.” –Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel

• “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You are talking anti-semitism.”  –Martin Luther King, Jr., human rights activist

• “As a Jew, I need Israel. More precisely: I can live as Jew outside Israel but not without Israel.” –Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and a human right activist

• “Israel doesn’t exist because the Holocaust happened. The Holocaust happened because Israel didn’t exist.” 

• “Israel is more than a country. It is a righteous cause.” –Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the UN

• “There is no such thing as a pro-Palestinian movement, only an anti-Israeli one that stems from anti-semitism.”  –Colonel Richard Kemp, British military expert

• “No army in the history of warfare has done more to avoid harming civilians in a combat zone than the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza.” –Colonel Richard Kemp, as quoted in The Jewish Chronicle, 26 December 2014, p. 20.

• “Israel has a right to self-defense.” –Nikki Haley

• “The cycle of violence does not need to be stopped, the violence belongs entirely to the side that chooses to educate its children to feel hatred and anti-Semitism. The Israeli war on terror is necessary and justified.” –Ben-Dror Yemini, “There are no two sides here”, February 2023

• “There is no ‘cycle of violence’. There is a Palestinian side, which is pro-Iranian or jihadist, which has no interest in reconciliation and in peace, but rather in the destruction of the Jewish state. The mythical leader of the Arabs of Palestine was a Nazi Islamist, the Mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who preached to the extermination of Jews. His legacy still lives on. Hamas and Jihad are his successors and continue in his footsteps. The incitement to hate Jews continues. The EU threatens to stop the funding, but these are only threats. And there is another side; the side of the Jews who were persecuted in almost every country in the world, fled or were expelled, from Europe or from Arab countries. They received the right to self-determination and established a state.” –Ben-Dror Yemini, “There are no two sides here”, 2023

• “America stands with Israel as it fights the terrorists who seek its destruction.” –Nikki Haley, Passover 2023 in which Israel suffered multiple Palestinian terror attacks

• “In the past the world murdered Jews in the name of race theory. Today the world murders Jews in the name of human rights.” –Dr. Zachi Evenor

• “Israel is fighting Nazis.” –Naftali Bennett, on the war against Hamas that started on 7th October 2023 when thousands Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip and brutally murdered and abused more than 1,300 Israelis, most of them are civilians, among them Holocaust survivors, elders, pregnant women, and children 

• "Everyone supporting Hamas supports Nazis." –Naftali Bennett

• “It is symbolic that this debate, which may well prove to be a turning point in the fortunes of the United Nations and a decisive factor in the possible continued existence of this organization, should take place on November 10. Tonight, thirty-seven years ago, has gone down in history as Kristallnacht, the Night of the Crystals. This was the night in 1938 when Hitler's Nazi storm-troopers launched a coordinated attack on the Jewish community in Germany, burned the synagogues in all its cities and made bonfires in the streets of the Holy Books and the Scrolls of the Holy Law and Bible. It was the night when Jewish homes were attacked and heads of families taken away, many of them never to return. It was the night when the windows of all Jewish businesses and stores were smashed, covering the streets in the cities of Germany with a film of broken glass which dissolved into the millions of crystals which gave that night its name. It was the night which led eventually to the crematoria and the gas chambers, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Dachau, Buchenwald, Theresienstadt and others. It was the night which led to the most terrifying holocaust in the history of man.

• It is indeed befitting Mr. President, that this debate, conceived in the desire to deflect the Middle East from its moves towards peace and born of a deep pervading feeling of anti-Semitism, should take place on the anniversary of this day. It is indeed befitting, Mr. President, that the United Nations, which began its life as an anti-Nazi alliance, should thirty years later find itself on its way to becoming the world center of anti-Semitism. Hitler would have felt at home on a number of occasions during the past year, listening to the proceedings in this forum, and above all to the proceedings during the debate on Zionism.

• The vote of each delegation will record in history its country's stand on anti-Semitic racism and anti-Judaism. You yourselves bear the responsibility for your stand before history, for as such will you be viewed in history. We, the Jewish people, will not forget.

• For us, the Jewish people, this is but a passing episode in a rich and event-filled history. We put our trust in our Providence, in our faith and beliefs, in our time-hallowed tradition, in our striving for social advance and human values, and in our people wherever they may be. For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. [Then he tore the resolution to shreds].”

•  –Chaim Herzog, Israel’s Ambassador in the United Nation, about the UN Resolution that equates Zionism with racism, 1975 (full text) 

• “You know, there are moments in this life — and I mean this literally — when the pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend. The bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas — a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews. This was an act of sheer evil. More than 1,000 civilians slaughtered — not just killed, slaughtered — in Israel. Among them, at least 14 American citizens were killed. Parents butchered using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach-turning reports of being — babies being killed. Entire families were slain. Young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace — to celebrate peace. Women were raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies. Families hid their fear for hours and hours, desperately trying to keep their children quiet to avoid drawing attention. And thousands of wounded, alive but carrying with them the bullet holes and the shrapnel אוסף אמרות השפר והציטטות של צחי אבנור © 134 wounds and the memory of what they endured. You all know these traumas never go away. There are still so many families desperately waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones, not knowing if they’re alive or dead or hostages. Infants in their mothers’ arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust survivors abducted and held hostage — hostages whom Hamas has now threatened to execute in violation of every code of human morality. It’s abhorrent. The brutality of Hamas — this bloodthirstiness — brings to mind the worst — the worst rampages of ISIS. This is terrorism. But sadly, for the Jewish people, it’s not new. This attack has brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by millennia of antisemitism and genocide of the Jewish people. So, in this moment, we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack. […] [Recounts a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in 1973] We were standing there silent, looking at the press. She could tell, I guess, I was concerned. She leaned over and whispered to me — she said, ‘Don’t worry, Senator Biden. We have a secret weapon here in Israel’ — my word this is what she said — ‘We have no place else to go.’ We have no place else to go. […] For 75 years, Israel has stood as the ultimate guarantor of security of Jewish people around the world so that the atrocities of the past could never happen again.” –President of the United States Joe Biden’s speech on the 7th October 2023 Palestinian mass-terrorist attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip in which more than 1,300 Israelis were slaughtered (source) 

• “As Jews around the world gather together to light the Hanukkah candles, let us all remember this: 22 centuries ago, the Maccabees rose up and fought for the freedom of the Jewish people. They were outnumbered, they were out-armed, and the odds were very much against them. But they won. Those mighty Maccabees reclaimed the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem. They a found a single jar of oil among the destruction with which they lit the Menorah. That light didn’t just burn for 8 nights, it’s been burning for 2,000 years, and shines bright until  today. Our light is a symbol of hope, a hope that for centuries has survived among the Jewish people and a hope that for centuries has helped the Jewish people survive. Our hope is not yet lost. Even during the worst tragedies the hope of the Jewish people remained. And it is that hope that has turned Israel into a beacon of light, a powerhouse of technology and innovation, and a lighthouse in a sea of darkness. So as we light our candles this Hanukkah we can all be proud that Israel has become the Maccabees of modern time. We may be small, we may be outnumbered, but we have faith, we have audacity, and we won’t accept defeat. Israel is a proof that freedom can prevail over tyranny, hope can prevail over despair, and light can prevail over darkness: a bit of light dispels much darkness. And our light will never extinguish.” –Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel, Hanukkah 2022 (video source)

A Nation of Lions    עם של אריות

Angels of Israel     המלאכיות של ישראל

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