More Quotes
“Due to the level of euphoria amongst certain sectors of the population [following Trump’s victory], there is a tendency to do things just because they’re possible, because there is no one to stop us. This is one of the biggest disasters in strategy. Actions should be taken not because they are possible but because they are correct. Therefore we should stop and ask the question not what is possible but rather what is correct. And those things we should try and coordinate as much as possible with the new American administration.”
(Maj. Gen. (res) Yaakov Amidror, former head of the National Security Council, at a BESA (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies) conference on the US elections, 22/11/16)
“They are no longer politically isolated. There are no crippling sanctions and they do not feel there is any military threat whatsoever. They’ve succeeded in gaining hegemony, not only in Tehran, but Baghdad, Damascus, in Lebanon, and in Yemen, challenging Western interests in the region…The Iranian aspiration is to dominate the region.”
(Former Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Iranian regional ambitions, 23/11/16)
“Britain is very proud of our role, in the part we played, in establishing a Jewish homeland.”
(Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood, on the upcoming centenary of the Balfour Declaration, 22/11/16)
“Our values, democracy and freedom are strong, and we are defending (it) with all our might. … we must act and work together … to share intelligence and best practices to keep our people safe and to protect our brothers, our towns and cities. India and Israel stand shoulder to shoulder.” (Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in a short speech at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, one of the targets in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, 21/11/16)
“Just as no one has a real clue as to how Trump will act once he takes over as president, no one knows what drives Netanyahu… Now the prime minister has the chance to chart Israel’s future with what he believes will be a friendly US administration, perhaps we will finally get a glimpse of Netanyahu’s vision for the country.”
(Jeff Barak, former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, writing in an opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post, 20/11/16)
“The Middle East is now one giant minefield, where every American move will have great implications. Israeli officials have privately expressed disappointment with the lack of a serious US response to Russia’s brutal air campaign in the Syrian city of Aleppo, seeing any victory for the Iranian alliance as bad for Israel. They are hoping Trump will show a tougher stance toward Iranian actions in the region more broadly, and that he will improve Washington’s relationship with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime, which has become one of Israel’s key regional allies.” (Israeli military and defence analyst Amos Harel writing in Foreign Policy, 15/11/16)