“If you mean whose side one should be on, Israel or the Arabs, I would certainly say Israel because it’s the advanced, technological, civilized country amidst a group of almost totally primitive savages who have not changed for years and who are racist and who resent Israel because it’s bringing industry, intelligence, and modern technology into their stagnation.”

— Ayn Rand

Q and A session during taping of Donohue, Live in New York (1979) Ayn Rand on Israel and the Middle East https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uHSv1asFvU

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Ayn Rand 322

Russian-American novelist and philosopher 1905–1982

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“The Arabs are one of the least developed cultures. They are typically nomads. Their culture is primitive, and they resent Israel because it's the sole beachhead of modern science and civilization on their continent. When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

Ayn Rand Ford Hall Forum lecture, 1974, text published on the website of The Ayn Rand Institute http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=media_america_at_war_israeli_arab_conflict

“Israel is not consistent in its new anti-apartheid attitude… They took Israel away from the Arabs after the Arabs lived there for a thousand years. In that, I agree with them. Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state.”

Hendrik Verwoerd (1901–1966) Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966

Quoted in The Empire's New Walls: Sovereignty, Neo-liberalism, and the Production of Space in Post-apartheid South Africa and Post-Oslo Palestine/Israel, by Andrew James Clarno, 2009. pp. 66–67

“I think it is necessary to say that what is basic and what is needed in the Middle East is peace. Peace for Israel is one thing. Peace for the Arab side of that world is another thing. Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land almost 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. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

68th Annual Convention of the Rabbinical Assembly for Conservative Judaism, March 25, 1968, less than 2 weeks before his death. Source: Martin Luther King's pro-Israel legacy by Allen B. West on February 15, 2014 at AllenBWest.com. http://allenbwest.com/2014/02/martin-luther-kings-pro-israel-legacy/ 2012-01-15 Youtube video Martin Luther King Jr: "Israel... is one of the great outpost of democracy in the world" by Youtube user Israel SDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvr2Cxuh2Wk 2014-06-09 Youtube video Dr. King's pro-Israel Legacy (in 5 minutes) by IBSI - Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dd7pIB0CP0
1960s

“I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran (if it attacks Israel). In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them. That’s a terrible thing to say but those people who run Iran need to understand that because that perhaps will deter them from doing something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Interview on ABC's Good Morning America, as quoted in "Clinton says U.S. could "totally obliterate" Iran" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-iran/clinton-says-u-s-could-totally-obliterate-iran-idUSN2224332720080422 by David Morgan, Reuters (22 April 2008)
Presidential campaign (January 20, 2007 – 2008)

“The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. … I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel. First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense. … This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam’s territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.”

Geert Wilders (1963) Dutch politician

2000s, Speech at the Four Seasons, New York (25 September 2008)

“Israel says, quite correctly, that changing Israel’s ethnicity would change the idea of Israel. Well, changing America’s ethnicity changes the idea of America, too. Show me in a straight line why we can’t do what Israel does. Is Israel special? For some of us, America is special, too.”

Ann Coulter (1961) author, political commentator

2015, Adios, America: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole (2015)

“The war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming. Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West. It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything.”

Geert Wilders (1963) Dutch politician

2000s, Speech at the Four Seasons, New York (25 September 2008)

“What is important about this meeting. and it is not in secret, because there are many of those – is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran.”

Benjamín Netanyahu (1949) Israeli prime minister

10:15 AM 13 February 2019 https://archive.fo/7nDgm, affirmed by City News https://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/02/13/israeli-leader-rallies-common-interest-of-war-with-iran/ and Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/world/israeli-leader-rallies-common-interest-of-war-with-iran and Montreal Gazette https://montrealgazette.com/pmn/news-pmn/israeli-leader-rallies-common-interest-of-war-with-iran/wcm/69afdd3f-be58-42f8-982a-ea95455717b3 and NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/netanyahu-appears-say-war-iran-common-goal-n971266 and Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/israeli-leader-rallies-common-interest-of-war-with-iran/2019/02/13/89ce2a2c-2fc3-11e9-8781-763619f12cb4_story.html.
the original tweet was deleted https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM/status/1095748204405104641 and replaced 11:08 AM https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM/status/1095761648399331330 with a similar message, except with "war with Iran" changed to "combating Iran"
2010s, 2019

“On the question of Israel, I talk about what I saw during his trip to Israel, how I saw his (Barack Obama) understanding of the relationship with Israel - he would describe it as a commitment of the head and heart. He looks at Israel and sees us as being two countries with common values. But he also looks at Israel and sees that whatever threatens Israel also happens to threaten the United States. So we have a [common] interest, because we end up facing the same threats.”

Dennis Ross (1948) American diplomat

“Congress ought to ensure that U. S. delegates continue to vigorously oppose the special agenda item targeting Israel; the one-sided resolutions; the council experts who subject Israel to irrational degrees of scrutiny and criticism; and the disproportionate amount of emergency special sessions that target Israel.”

Hillel Neuer Canadian activist

ISRAEL, THE PALESTINIANS, AND THE UNITED NATIONS: CHALLENGES FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATION http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA13/20170202/105508/HHRG-115-FA13-Wstate-NeuerH-20170202.pdf, ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION FEBRUARY 2, 2017, pg. 14

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Ayn Rand 322

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