32 Address by Prime Minister Begin to the Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism- 2 July 1979
02 Jul 1979
VOLUME 6: 1979-1980
Being a former leader of an underground organization in Palestine during the closing years of the British mandate over that country, there was much interest in the address by the Prime Minister. He discussed at length the differences between a war of liberation conducted by his own organization against the British and the terror practiced by the P.L.O. against Israel and Jewish civilians. At the end of his speech he also revealed new information regarding the attack by the Irgun Z'vai Leumi, which he headed, on the British Headquarters in Jerusalem, the King David Hotel in July 1946. Text:
What is the difference between a fight for freedom or liberation, on one hand, and terrorism, on the other hand? To answer this decisive question, one should recall two criteria: The aim and the method. Fights for liberation took place throughout the centuries, from the ancient times to our own days. There are historians who contend that the most justified fight of all in the annals of mankind was that of Spartacus in ancient Rome; until Crassus crushed that famous revolt through raising throughout the Via Appia up to the sea crosses on which the rebels slowly extinguished. Because, so they say, that was a fight not for political independence, which is justified, but for - in the literal sense of the word physical liberation, for the piercing of the shackles on the hands of the slaves, of the gladiators. Yes, indeed, so it was. So we have a fight for political independence, we have a fight for physical liberation, and there is another stage in human history, as we experienced it for all the two previous aims and the third: For survival.
That was the fight we, the Jews, conducted in a country historically known as Eretz Israel, or the Land of Israel, since the Prophet Samuel and Ezekiel, in which the passages appear: "Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel" (Samuel I:13:19), or "in the visions of god brought he me into the Land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain" (Ezekiel 40:2) - and others call it Palestine.
This is not a unique phenomenon in history. We know, for instance, that the Japanese call their country Nippon; the whole world calls them Japan. The Germans call their country Deutschland; everybody else calls them Germany. In French, with a change. In Hebrew, "Germania". Many people call a certain island Formosa; its inhabitants call it Taiwan. And so on.
Since the Emperor Hadrianus, who crushed the Bar Kochba revolt, the great fight for liberation of our forefathers in the second century, he renamed the country: instead of Judea, as the Romans called it even after the destruction of the second temple, "Syria et Palestina". And since then, many nations adopted this second name.
Well, when we fought, our aim was to save a people from the danger of utter destruction. What happened in the '40's in Europe, everybody here present knows. In those days Palestine, promised as the national home for the Jewish people was shut off to every and any Jew. And great tragedies - which remind us of these days too - at sea did take place. So, were it not for our fight for liberation and independence and survival, our people would have suffered total extinction.
And now, I will pause for a while in order not to commit sacrilege; and I will ask what is the name of the organization known in our time as P.L.O., whereas the 'L' stands horrible dictu - for liberation? There is a so-called Palestinian charter, and its article 1 stipulates: "Palestine is the homeland of the Palestinian Arab people and an integral part of the great Arab homeland, and the people of Palestine is a part of the Arab nation." What does that mean? The state of Israel must disappear.
There are some learned people who call it "politicide" - the destruction of a country. I disagree, because it would be again genocide. The Jewish people cannot exist without this country of its forefathers, as it was already proved.
But pay attention, ladies and gentlemen, to this sentence: That they are part of the Arab nation. If this is the case, we must remember that the Arab nation has got now, as an expression of its inherent, undeniable right of self-determination, twenty-two sovereign states. Now the proposition is that the Arab nation should have twenty-three sovereign states - and the only Jewish country should disappear from the earth. This is the aim.
In article 6, it is being stipulated: "Jews who were living permanently in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians." What do the words "Zionist invasion" mean? Well, we have the interpretation by the authors of this document, and it means the Balfour Declaration, November, 1917. In those days in Palestine, there were 60,000 Jews. Now, in this country, there are 3,200,000 Jews. In other words, all the others will have to leave.
And this is a repetition of the Nuremberg laws, because then the Jews would lose even their citizenship, and will have to go, as the Iraqis a few days ago promised, they will fight on until all the Jews who came to Palestine will be sent back to the countries of their origin.
And ultimately is article 22: "Zionism is a political movement organically related to world imperialism and hostile to all movements of liberation and progress in the world. It is a racist and fanatical movement in its formation."
Ladies and gentlemen, I am an old man - I am a Zionist sixty years. I studied almost every book and almost every article and almost every speech written or spoken about or for or on behalf of Zionism. I learned what is Zionism from Herzl, Nordau, and Jabotinsky; men of great learning, famous writers and orators; some of the greatest liberals in the 19th and the 20th centuries, who imbued us that nothing that is human should be strange to us, to Zionists. And the authors of this document have the impudence to say that this movement, that all of us sitting here who call themselves Zionists, learned from their own experience, is the purest human, humanitarian liberation movement of a people wandering throughout the world for nineteen centuries - humiliated, oppressed, deported, persecuted, ultimately physically destroyed by racism - that this pure, great, idealistic movement is racist, etc.
Now you can understand what is the aim of this so-called P.L.O. - not to save a people: To destroy a state and a nation together. What is the method? Well, I will call as witnesses many, many commanding officers of the British army in Palestine, and they will give evidence to every court that, after many, many battles between that army and the Jewish fighting underground, those commanding officers used to comment "it was a fair battle." For nearly five years of danger of utter destruction - no British child was ever hurt, no British woman was ever injured, no citizen of Britain was ever attacked; only armed men against armed men. Armed men are also human beings we never rejoiced when we had to hurt them, and we, on our side, used to take all the risks. All are human beings - A soldier is also a human being, and we always regretted whenever there were casualties on either side. Yes, there was a unique case, about which I will tell you at the end of my remarks, with a revelation of which I, myself, learned only a few weeks ago.
Please go to Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs to read the entire presentation.
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Counter evidence to the garbage presented above that marked the beginning of this long and enormously costly "war on terrorism" first crafted in British and Israeli think tanks:
The Lavon Affair: How a false-flag operation led to war and the Israeli bomb
The Jewish Terrorists
Israel Charged with Systematic Harassment of U.S. Marines
Menechim Begin: The Father of Modern Terrorism
Prince William in Israel: Why won't he honour British military dead?
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