Shimon Peres Quotes

Shimon Peres was an Israeli politician who served as the ninth President of Israel , the Prime Minister of Israel , and the Interim Prime Minister, in the 1970s to the 1990s. He was a member of twelve cabinets and represented five political parties in a political career spanning 70 years. Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, was in office continuously until he was elected President in 2007. At the time of his retirement in 2014, he was the world's oldest head of state and was considered the last link to Israel's founding generation.From a young age, he was renowned for his oratorical brilliance, and was chosen as a protégé by David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding father. He began his political career in the late 1940s, holding several diplomatic and military positions during and directly after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. His first high-level government position was as Deputy Director-General of Defense in 1952 which he attained at the age of 28, and Director-General from 1953 until 1959. In 1956, he took part in the historic negotiations on the Protocol of Sèvres described by British Prime Minister Anthony Eden as the "highest form of statesmanship". In 1963, he held negotiations with U.S. President John F. Kennedy, which resulted in the sale of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel, the first sale of U.S. military equipment to Israel. Peres represented Mapai, Rafi, the Alignment, Labor and Kadima in the Knesset, and led Alignment and Labor.Peres first succeeded Yitzhak Rabin as Acting Prime Minister briefly during 1977, before becoming Prime Minister from 1984 to 1986. As Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Rabin, Peres engineered the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty, and won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the Oslo Accords peace talks with the Palestinian leadership. In 1996, he founded the Peres Center for Peace, which has the aim of "promot[ing] lasting peace and advancement in the Middle East by fostering tolerance, economic and technological development, cooperation and well-being." After suffering a stroke, Peres died on 28 September 2016 near Tel Aviv.Peres was a polyglot, speaking Polish, French, English, Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew, although he never lost his Polish accent when speaking in Hebrew. In his private life, he was a poet and songwriter, writing stanzas during cabinet meetings, with some of his poems later being recorded as songs in albums. As a result of his deep literary interests, he could quote from Hebrew prophets, French literature, and Chinese philosophy with equal ease. Wikipedia  

✵ 1. August 1923 – 28. September 2016
Shimon Peres photo
Shimon Peres: 15   quotes 0   likes

Famous Shimon Peres Quotes

“Your majesty, the king of Saudi Arabia, I was listening to your message. I wish that your voice will become the prevailing voice of the whole region, of all people. It's right, it's needed, it's promising … The initiative's portrayal of our region's future provides hope to the people and inspires confidence in the nations.”

On King Abdullah's Interfaith initiative, as quoted in "Saudi king promotes tolerance at U.N. forum", Reuters (12 November 2008) http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4AB84U20081112?sp=true

“If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact, not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.”

As quoted by Donald Rumsfeld in "Sharon's Victory" (link is to a preview, but the quote is in the first few visible lines) https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB981508176687515426, Wall Street Journal (7 February 2001)

“Optimists and pessimists die the same way. They just live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist.”

As quoted in Serving "60 Years to Life", Newsweek Europe (12 December 2005)

“If world is suspicious that Israel may detonate nuclear bomb and if the suspicion is a deterrent — that's good enough.”

As quoted in "Peres: Suspicion over Israeli nukes is good deterrent", Ynetnews (1 September 2007) http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3444458,00.html

Shimon Peres Quotes about homeland

“I will confine myself to reaffirming the Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region.”

As quoted in "Shimon Peres: 'Sanctions on Iran could work'" in Le Figaro (26 July 2007) http://www.lefigaro.fr/english/20070726.WWW000000384_shimon_peres_sanctions_on_iran_could_work_.html

“India represents the new world in a unique sense. Traditionally democracies were trying to bring equality to all walks of life, today there is a change. Democracy wants to enable every country to have the equal right to be different; it's a collection of differences, not an attempt to force or impose equality on every country. I think India is the greatest show of how so many differences in language, in sects can coexist facing great suffering and keeping full freedom… Many of the countries in the Middle East should learn from you how to escape poverty. You didn't escape poverty by getting American dollars or Russian Roubles but by introducing your own internal reforms and by understanding that the new call of modernity is science. In between the spiritual wealth of Gandhi and the earthly wisdom of Nehru, you combined a great performance of spirit and practice to escape poverty…I know you still have a long way to go but you do it without compromising freedom. The temptation when you're such a large country to introduce discipline and imposition is great but you tried to do it, to make progress not with force and discipline but in an open way. Many of us were educated on the literature of India when we fell in love we read Rabindranath Tagore and when we matured we tried to understand Gandhi.”

Israeli President Shimon Peres praises India as greatest 'show of co-existence' http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-12-04/news/35594466_1_greatest-show-mahatma-gandhi-democracies (4 December 2012)

“Iran is a great problem, but not necessarily a great country. In fact, I think it is a very weak country.”

As quoted in "Israel's Shimon Peres Calls Iran Weak", Comcast (29 November 2006) http://www.comcast.net/news/international/index.jsp?cat=INTERNATIONAL&fn=/2006/11/29/531290.html

Shimon Peres Quotes

“The president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map.”

Remarks 8 May 2006, as quoted in "Iran can also be wiped off the map", in The Jerusalem Post (9 May 2006) http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1145961301962

“India and Israel are co-operating on security and intelligence matters because we have a common enemy: terrorism.”

Rahul Bedi, Israel and India draw Closer, 14 March 2002, http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir020314_1_n.shtml https://web.archive.org/web/20080212170448/http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir020314_1_n.shtml

“The way to make peace is not through governments. It is through people.”

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-01-18/debates/89C645E3-674E-488C-8223-D4C20634C1ED/PromotionOfIsraeli-PalestinianPeace(UnitedKingdomParticipation)?highlight=joan%20ryan%20israel#contribution-5AAC9F18-D1E8-49F2-9352-430D75AFDFDA

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