Menachem Begin Writing Archive
Throughout his life, Menachem Begin acted with the thought and belief of a national-liberal doctrine in his mind, the core of which was the concentration of the nation, the liberation of the homeland, individual liberty rights, the correction of society, and the supremacy of justice.
For decades, as a member of The Betar, the Irgun commander, the opposition chairman of the Knesset, and the Israeli prime minister he has left countless articles and heartbreaking speeches from heated discussions on the Knesset stage and party, parliamentary and political activities. This database, of the Menachem Begin’s writings, is another means for the Menachem Begin Heritage Center to advance the spread of the national-liberal concept among the citizens of the State of Israel and members of the Jewish nation.
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מנחם בגין

The Daily Quote

I'm a born optimist. I only said that nations shouldn't get nervous and lose the capacity to think calmly when there is a certain crisis in negotiations. Ups and downs are always part and an integral part of negotiations. I could have quoted to you treaties already reached after years. Some of them you know yourself. And here, we negotiate, let me say for the last 14 months, was no splendid period. I believe we should overcome the difficulties, but anyhow it should be made clear, I don't adopt this theory of now or never. I will never adopt it. If there is a crisis, let us try, let us make an intellectual effort to overcome it. If we didn't this week, then maybe next week, next month. And, therefore, I couldn't say I'm not concerned. I would have liked to have signed this treaty in November, as we suggested. I am. I love peace, I hate war. And my people want peace. Do you imagine, Mr. Reynolds, what are the sacrifices we already made for the sake of peace with Egypt? We are prepared to give up the whole Sinai Peninsula. Two great air bases which we built with our own toil of great strategic importance, mainly after the events in Iran and the six countries which the Soviet Union took over by proxy in the last three years or so – Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Southern Yemen and, actually, also Cambodia. Where is the free world going? We built those great bases, it was going to be used also in the service of the free world. Now, last, but not least, with the greatest pain in my heart, we also decided to move our brave pioneers, who built their homes in a piece of desert, perhaps 2% of the whole area of the Sinai Peninsula, for the last 12 years, all for the sake of peace. No nation ever made such sacrifices, and, may I also say, no previous government ever did so. And, therefore, we proved that we give sacrifices for peace, not with words from mouths but with deeds. But it must be a real peace treaty. It cannot be a sham. We are not going to sign a sham document.

כ"ג טבת התש"ל, 1 In jan 1970

Publications

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External Publications

The raid on Iraqi nuclear