I have applied for Israeli citizenship, which makes playing overseas a bit easier.
David Ben-Gurion established the Israeli intelligence community in June of 1948, just three weeks after the establishment of Israel and in the midst of war.
We must continue to foster relevant and constructive dialogue among Israeli and Palestinian communities.
I cannot say that the attitude of the United Nations always is for the Israeli attitude. Israel, I think, has been under severe attacks by members of the United Nations many times.
The Israeli people deserve better than a life in between rounds of violence.
I’m studying Krav Maga, which is an Israeli form of self defense. It’s very deadly and without rules.
Hamas is responsible for countless homicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israeli citizens. They have waged a terror war with the sole intent of murdering innocent people.
Israeli Arabs don’t have to go. But if they stay, they have to take an oath of allegiance to Israel as a Jewish Zionist state.
When I made my first trip to Israel as a member of Congress, not only did I meet with the Israeli president and prime minister, but I also traveled to Ramallah to meet with the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. That’s what being a member of Congress is about.
The Israeli public’s willingness to enlist, the warm embrace for the soldiers and the residents of the south, and the desire to contribute and to give at any given moment really warm the heart, and it gives all of us strength.
The Israeli government has proved over the past year its commitment to peace, both in words and deeds. By contrast, the Palestinians are posing preconditions for renewing the diplomatic process in a way they have not done over the course of 16 years.
No Israeli leader will accept a nuclear Iran.
I lead Labor – Labor is the party that founded the state of Israel; it’s deeply rooted in Israeli society.
Like Iran and Syria supplied Hezbollah with sophisticated anti-tank rockets – Matisse, Cornet, and other RPGs that caused great damage to Israeli tanks and Israeli infantry in 2006 – they did the same in Gaza with Hamas.
I want every Israeli child, secular and religious, to know about Moses, about Maimonides, about Yoni Netanyahu, about Hannah Senesh and S. Y. Agnon. I want every child to know how to read the Bible, and know how to make Kiddush.
Israeli Arabs have more political rights than any other Arabs in the Middle East, including their compatriots in the Palestinian Authority.
Remember, the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, have a working relationship with the Palestinian Authority security forces, which have been incredibly professional.
Right after the Six Day War, Arafat launched a series of guerrilla operations from East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Acting on a tip, Israeli soldiers stormed the house where he was based, minutes too late. They found his food still warm on the table.
Historically, the National Religious Party, which my party – Jewish Home – is built upon, has aligned itself in consecutive Israeli governments with the ultra-Orthodox factions.
Israeli Arabs are equal citizens.
Peace should provide security. It should be durable. I’m ready to go far in making painful concessions. But there is one thing I will never make any concessions on and that’s the security of the Israeli citizens and the very existence of the state of Israel. The Palestinians are losing time.
I want the Israeli government to be made accountable for its behaviour to the Palestinians, and I want the people of the U.S. to cease acting as if they don’t understand what is going on.
The aim of the Palestinian terror is not just to kill Israelis but also to break the will of Israeli society in order to dictate a political solution. Israel should never yield to this terror campaign.
As an observer, I react to the realities of Israeli life with both envy and relief. Nobody wants to live under the threat of constant attack from enemies right next door, under ceaseless and often unfair international scrutiny, defending his homeland by day and living with the memories of mass genocide at night.
It doesn’t serve an American interest. It really doesn’t really serve Israeli interests – it serves the interests of the political party that’s getting the votes of the settlers on the West Bank.
Americans are connected to the situation in the West Bank and Gaza and Israel because, generally speaking, Jewish Americans were always there, and many American Jewish people connect their nationality to the Israeli one.
In the category of U.S. interest, Israeli intelligence services regularly share valuable and essential information about the Middle East. As the region has all but collapsed under Obama’s leadership, Israel has been a reliable, steady, stable force in the region.
Lebanon was under Israeli occupation, up to its capital, but we did not consider that a disaster. Why? Because it was very clear that there are ways to resist.
Twenty five percent of Israeli citizens are not even Jewish. Anybody can become an Israeli citizen if you qualify. Religion is not a criterion for citizenship.
I wanted to bring likable Arabs into the average Israeli living room.
For decades, the violence in the Middle East has claimed a multitude of innocent civilian victims: Men, women and children, Arab and Israeli.
I’m very much Israeli and American; I never was tempted to change my name. Some people suggested I should have a different name, and I said absolutely not. That’s the name I inherited, and it’s meaningful: Israel is on every cake that I present.
The values of democracy, brotherhood, and freedom that constitute the building blocks of American society are also shared by Israeli society, together with the faith in man’s power and ability to change and influence his surroundings.
It’s OK to criticize Israeli policy.
I’ve been studying Israeli army martial arts. I now know 16 ways to kick a Palestinian woman in the back.
The core issue here is that the Israeli government refuses to commit to terms of reference for the negotiations that are based on international law and United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically continues to intensify building of settlements on the territory of the State of Palestine.
The first to grasp how sensitive Israeli public opinion was on the issue of hostages and M.I.A.’s – and therefore what a powerful weapon abduction could be – was Ahmed Jibril, the leader of a faction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
There are people who think I am Israeli. That’s rubbish.
The claim that Israel seeks to annihilate the Palestinians is simply a lie. Israel seeks to stop rocket attacks and tunnel invasions, and as long as Hamas is dedicated to those actions, they can expect a forceful Israeli reaction.
The Israeli public has been brainwashed into believing that its global isolation stems from delegitimization and anti-Semitism.
I signed at Sony and suddenly they’ve started to take an interest in Israeli musicians and to listen more, and I send them stuff. It’s very important for me to open that window for Israelis.
Offer is actually my first name. My Dad is Israeli, so that isn’t totally made up.
Everyone who is critical of Israeli policy is deluged by crazed messages intended to flood their email system or, more insidiously, passwords are accessed and messages sent out under their name! I’m sure it’s illegal. It’s also an effort to undermine free speech.
The Kurdish people are a partner for the Israeli people.
My closest friends from Israel make fun of me for becoming an American, and my American friends make fun of how Israeli I am… I can’t win.
In fact, the Iraqi foreign minister admitted in March 2003 that Iraqi funds were sent to families of Palestinian suicide bombers who attacked and killed innocent Israeli citizens, and also 12 Americans in Israel in 2003.
In November 2008, the day of the presidential election, Israeli military forces invaded Gaza and killed half a dozen Hamas militants. Well, that was followed by a missile exchange for a couple of weeks in both directions.
And on the other hand, we see that the Israeli government is attacking that part of the Palestinian leader.
Generally speaking, Israeli intelligence did not hunt Nazi war criminals.
My biggest goal became to bring the weight of and the voice of the Arabs into the Israeli political sphere.
The Israeli prime minister, whoever that person is, should have an open invitation to come to America to speak to Congress and the American people.
Close to 80 percent of all terrorist activity in Samaria was directed and financed either by Hizbullah or the Iranians. Iran continues to increase its involvement in terror attacks inside Israel, particularly through a small but radical minority of Israeli Arabs which Iran supports and directs.
Just as we send young American Jews to Israel through the Birthright program, we need to also consider a ‘reverse Birthright’ for Israeli kids to come see America.
When I come to the airport, they always send me with all the other Israeli Arabs to the foreign workers’ line. I don’t mind. I feel like I belong more with all the people from abroad and the foreign workers than in the Israelis’ line.
I have never been particularly good with languages. Despite a dozen years of Hebrew school and a lifetime of praying in the language, I’m ashamed to admit that I still can’t read an Israeli newspaper. Besides English, the only language I speak with any degree of fluency is Spanish.
