Menachem Begin – Irgun Commander

All public discussion on Eretz Israel is a good thing.  We are sure of our cause.

We don't like this reprisal system; we wish it would end.  Retaliation is bad; if they would treat us as combatants it would end.

Is not this movement one of the most humanitarian in all history?  It is not only a fight for political independence but for racial survival.  Take your America at the time of the Revolution, or take Ireland during the time of the Irish rebellion, although there had been oppression there was never at any time the risk of the non-survival of the people as a race.  The Americans and the Irish would continue to exist; the Hebrew race has not that assurance. Therefore our fight tends to become more intense, more violent than other historical struggles.  As to our future government, we strongly oppose any totalitarian structure within our state.  Our only aim is to free our country from foreign rule.  We are educating our members in the tenets of individual freedom and social justice; they are being taught the principles of democracy in preparation for their future responsibilities, BUT WE KNOW that the only means of safeguarding Eretz Israel and those still abroad is to give them a state and an army to defend it.