Subjects: Greater Land of Israel

Menachem Begin Calls for the Evacuation of Soviet Jewry

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A speech Begin gave at the Knesset after the Munich Massacre. All of Israel is in mourning. Nothing like this has happened before in the more-than-1000 year history of the Olympics. The government must abandon the philosophy of just retaliating when Israelis and Jews are attacked. It needs to take offensive action against the terrorists so that they are unable to kill again. After the Holocaust, Jews need to be sure that Israel is defending them and that they can defend themselves. An international convention is a good idea, but it would take years to be ratified and implemented by the various countries of the world, and as the terrorist threat exists now, it must be dealt with now militarily. Gahal also asks the government to rescind the ban on the death penalty in Israel. Eretz Israel belongs to the Jews, and Israel cannot give concessions to or make peace with terrorists who only want to destroy it.

We Shall Create a New Era

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Begin addresses a crowd in Johannesburg focusing on Israel’s enemies. He first shares what Arab leaders said about their hopes for Israel in both the War of Independence and Six-Day War. Begin then brings up the claim that the verbal hatred from those Arab leaders is merely domestic propaganda that does not need to be taken seriously. This leads Begin to speak about how the propaganda from Nazi Germany was not taken seriously by people and as a result, the Holocaust happened. Additionally Begin speaks about peace treaties between countries after the First and Second World Wars to make the point that the aggressors were not given land back. This relates to his argument that Israel has no reason to give back land that was gained from the defensive war in 1967. He references back to the delay of action by countries to rescue Jews from the death chambers, and so Begin argues that Israel needs to rely on herself and not trust the opinions of other nations.

American Jewish Congress

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A speech Begin gave while serving as the chairman of the debate at the 10th Annual American-Israel dialogue of the American Jewish Congress. The word revolution can be either progressive or retrogressive, depending on who the revolutionaries are fighting and their ultimate goals. After the calls to slaughter the Jews were ignored in the 1930s the left cannot expect Israel and the Jews to just ignore the Palestinian and wider Arab calls for the destruction of Israel and extermination of the Jews. Begin says that the people on the New Left are ignorant of the history of the Jews. Violence as used in revolutions should only be used against tyrannies. In democracies, there are other, better ways to bring about change. The Arabs have 20 countries and a vast land. There is no problem if a percent of them live in Israel, and there is no reason for countries to only have one ethnic group in them. That is the thinking of Hitler.

The 1972 Jabotinsky Ferment Among the Jews of Russia

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Begin focuses on the importance of Jews immigrating to Israel from Russia. He describes Russian Jews reading and deeply connecting with Jabotinsky’s writings about the relationship between Jews and Eretz Israel. Then Begin reflects on his commitment to bringing Russian Jews to Israel. He remembers that Russia’s ambassador to Israel telling him that the Russian Jews will not vote for Begin’s party because they are coming for a socialist country. Begin strongly responded that the main thing is to allow them to come. He then talks about how Russian Jews and Herut have similarities. Then Begin argues against the claim that Russian Jews will see the State as fascist. He explains that it is clear the State is a democracy because there are many political parties and in Israel, one can vote for whichever party he wants, because he is a free man.

Self Determination: Our Right to Eretz Israel

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Begin expounds on the need for the existence of the state of Israel in order for the Jewish people to have the right of self determination. He compares our 3600 year claim to the 18 year claim of the Arabs of Israel and the existence of 20 Arab states to one sovereign Jewish state. Begin states that an Arab inhabitant can be a citizen of Israel if he is loyal to the state, and thereby the integrity of the Jewish state will be maintained.