Benjamin Netanyahu
I think that peace will require two states, a Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.Collection: Peace
Peace is something very dear. If you've been through wars and operations and battles, you want peace.Collection: Peace
The Palestinians want a state, but they have to give peace in return. What they're trying to do in the United Nations is to get a state without giving Israel peace or giving Israel peace and security. And I think that's, that's wrong. That should not succeed. That should, that should fail.Collection: Peace
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.Collection: Future
I think that a strong Israel is the only Israel that will bring the Arabs to the peace table.Collection: Peace
There is a fundamental situation in which the country has reached rock bottom, that a mother can't send her children out of the house in the morning. The country has reached rock bottom and this needs to be changed.Collection: Morning
I can tell you one thing, Iran is closer to developing nuclear weapons today than it was a week ago, or a month ago or a year ago. It's just moving on with its efforts.Collection: Moving
The right combination is between a free economy and social policy that addresses the needs of society and creates equal opportunity.Collection: Society
Now, when we say we want peace, what we want is really for our Palestinian neighbours to have a demilitarized state next to us that recognizes the Jewish State. We're willing to recognize their state, the Palestinian state. But we ask them to recognize the Jewish state.Collection: Peace
Peace is purchased from strength. It's not purchased from weakness or unilateral retreats.Collection: Peace
I will say that I think Israel enjoys strong bipartisan support in the United States. It's really above and beyond American politics.Collection: Politics
You can only end a negotiation for peace if you begin it.Collection: Peace
We want Israel as a democratic and Jewish state. So you have to maintain a Jewish majority, and you want to do that by legal means, by democratic means.Collection: Legal
In my office in Jerusalem, there's an ancient seal. It's a signet ring of a Jewish official from the time of the Bible. The seal was found right next to the Western Wall, and it dates back 2,700 years, to the time of King Hezekiah. Now, there's a name of the Jewish official inscribed on the ring in Hebrew. His name was Netanyahu.
The State of Israel can be proud of what we're doing.
My first name, Benjamin, dates back a thousand years earlier to Benjamin - Binyamin - the son of Jacob, who was also known as Israel. Jacob and his 12 sons roamed these same hills of Judea and Sumeria 4,000 years ago, and there's been a continuous Jewish presence in the land ever since.
I think placing preconditions before negotiations is the quickest way to undermine peace.
If we accept the notion that terrorists will have immunity because as they fire on civilians they hide behind civilians, then this tactic will be legitimized and the terrorists will have their greatest victory.
I don't think you can rely on Iran. I don't think you can rely on other radicals like the Taliban. They dispatched Al Qaida to bomb New York and Washington. What were they thinking? Were they that stupid? They weren't stupid. There is an irrationality there, and there is madness in this method.
I'm a proud member of the rabble.
I often hear them accuse Israel of Judaizing Jerusalem. That's like accusing America of Americanizing Washington, or the British of Anglicizing London. You know why we're called 'Jews'? Because we come from Judea.
Populism is dangerous.
The application of military force, or the prospect of such application, inhibits terrorist violence.
I don't want to govern the Palestinians. I don't want them as subjects of Israel or as citizens of Israel. I want them to have their own independent state but a demilitarized state.
Those in the international community that refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.
Both peoples, both nations, deserve a nation-state of their own. Palestinians, if they wish so, will go to the Palestinian state; Jews, if they so wish, can go to the Jewish state. And we'll have to have security and demilitarization agreements between us.
Most of the approaches to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, have been directed at trying to resolve the most complex problems, like refugees and Jerusalem, which is akin to building the pyramid from the top down.
I'm the prime minister who removed 400 checkpoints, barriers, road-blocks and so on to facilitate the growth of the Palestinian economy.
I've been right more than I've been wrong.
I always lose the election in the polls, and I always win it on election day.
Certainly the international community is putting a lot of pressure on Iran and making clear that its nuclear program must stop. If it stops with the sanctions, the combinations of sanctions, diplomacy, other pressures, I, as the prime minister of Israel, will be the happiest person in the world.
We're willing to make difficult and hard decisions and compromises to live in peace with our neighbours, but we're entitled to our own country where Jews from around the world can come here, just as Palestinians from around the world can come to the Palestinian state.
I am certain that I speak on behalf of my entire nation when I say: September 11th we are all Americans - in grief, as in defiance.
The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.
I say that to my colleagues, by the way, in the internal Cabinet meetings, I say, 'Look, I want to be very clear about what I want.' I just - I don't want a peace process, I want a peace result.
I don't think Israel can accept an Iranian terror base next to its major cities any more than the United States could accept an al Qaeda base next to New York City.
There's an abiding interest by the United States, by the American people, and by anybody with his eyes set in his head, to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
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.
Well, this is an unfortunate part of the UN institution. It's the - the theater of the absurd. It doesn't only cast Israel as the villain; it often casts real villains in leading roles: Gadhafi's Libya chaired the UN Commission on Human Rights; Saddam's Iraq headed the UN Committee on Disarmament.
And by the way, a piece of news, Israel is the one country in which everyone is pro-American, opposition and coalition alike. And I represent the entire people of Israel who say, 'Thank you, America.' And we're friends of America, and we're the only reliable allies of America in the Middle East.
Some will criticize me no matter what I do.
I'm not consumed with political machinations.
We don't point a pistol at our own forehead. That is not the way to conduct negotiations.
The Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons would be infinitely more costly than any scenario you can imagine to stop it.
I'm not naturally manipulative.
Our policy is very simple. The Jewish state was set up to defend Jewish lives, and we always reserve the right to defend ourselves.
The greatest threat facing humanity is a radical Islamist regime meeting up with nuclear weapons.
The U.S. has a stronger military than Israel, but, but don't short-change Israel, either. Don't short-change them.
You can't end negotiations unless you begin them. And you can't begin them if you continually negotiate about the terms to begin negotiations.
First of all, Arafat is wrong. Jerusalem is Israel's capital, will never be divided, and will remain the capital of the State of Israel, the capital of the Jewish people, for ever and ever.