As Israel perches, tenuously, between the ongoing series of attempts to annihilate it and kill all its Jewish citizens, I thought I would put up a series of quotes from one of its very greatest citizens.
They come from Golda Meir, the Kiev-born, Milwaukee-raised, former schoolteacher who emigrated to Israel as a young adult and eventually became its Prime Minister.
Wisdom cascaded from Ms. Meir like water from Niagara Falls. Accordingly, she left us with a treasure trove of quotes and comments.
Here are my five favorites:
“It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don\’t want victories anymore.”
“We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel.”
“A leader who doesn\’t hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader”
“We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon – no alternative.”
“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
Golda Meir died 36 years ago. But, even today, those words have great depth and great meaning.
How much better off we all would be if some current heads of state thought the way she did.
And how sad that so many of them never will.
In that connection, a note to President Obama: please notice how many times in those 5 quotes Ms. Meir uses the word “I”. None, that\’s how many.
Like I said, 36 years after Golda Meir\’s death and heads of state can still learn from her.
