Quotations: Quotes from modern Israeli leaders

“It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is no Zionism, colonialization [sic], or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands. (Finkelstein, Image) Everybody has to move, run, and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours… Everything we don’t grab will go to them.”

~Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006

“The vision I would like to see here is the entrenching of the Jewish and the Zionist state…. I very much favor democracy, but when there is a contradiction between democratic and Jewish values, the Jewish and Zionist values are more important.” (Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada)

~Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Minister of Strategic Threats, 2006