Top 100 Benjamin Netanyahu Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Once we squeeze all we can out of the United States, it can dry up and blow away.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

2. “May God bless the state of Israel and may God bless the United States of America.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

3. “The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

4. “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

5. “Peace is purchased from strength. It’s not purchased from weakness or unilateral retreats.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

6. “Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

7. “Populism is dangerous.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

8. “We are using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

9. “I’m a proud member of the rabble.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

10. “The enemy of your enemy is your enemy!”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

11. “The idea of imposing peace from the outside doesn’t work.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

12. “Leaders must see reality as it is, not as it ought to be.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

13. “This is why, as a prime minister of Israel, I can promise you one more thing. Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. But I know that Israel does not stand alone. I know that America stands with Israel.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

14. “My first name, Benjamin, dates back a thousand years earlier to Benjamin – Binyamin – the son of Jacob, who was also known as Israel. Jacob and his 12 sons roamed these same hills of Judea and Sumeria 4,000 years ago, and there’s been a continuous Jewish presence in the land ever since.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

15. “The Romans used to say that courage is not the only virtue, but it’s the only one that makes the other virtues possible.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

16. “Israel has to accommodate the Palestinian demands and aspirations for ending occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. That is the only answer. The Israeli aggression on Gaza does not bring peace to Israel. We know that. We want end of occupation.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

17. “I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

18. “I think that a strong Israel is the only Israel that will bring the Arabs to the peace table.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

19. “I always lose the election in the polls, and I always win it on election day.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

20. “Some will criticize me no matter what I do.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

21. “If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it act like a normal country.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

22. “Israel is so tiny. It’s, you know, a little less than the length of Manhattan, without the West Bank, without Judea and Samaria.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

23. “It doesn’t matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your position as just.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

24. “They’re in the red zone. They’re in the last 20 yards, and you can’t let them cross that goal line. You can’t let them score a touchdown, because that would have unbelievable consequences, grievous consequences for the peace and security of us all, of the world really.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

25. “I don’t want a one-state solution. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution. But for that, circumstances have to change.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

26. “Israel has no better friend that America. And America has not better friend than Israel. We stand together to defend democracy. We stand together to advance peace. We stand together to fight terrorism.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

27. “If diplomacy has any chance to work, it must be coupled with a credible military threat.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

28. “Our friendship will weather the current disagreement as well, to grow even stronger in the future.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

29. “You can only end a negotiation for peace if you begin it.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

30. “First of all, Arafat is wrong. Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, will never be divided, and will remain the capital of the State of Israel, the capital of the Jewish people, for ever and ever.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

31. “As far as a nuclear weapons-free zone, you know, when the lion lies down with the lamb, and you don’t need a new lamb every day to satisfy the lion, then we might have this kind of transformation in the Middle East.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

32. “Most of the approaches to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, have been directed at trying to resolve the most complex problems, like refugees and Jerusalem, which is akin to building the pyramid from the top down.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

33. “The Nazis believed in a master race. The militant Islamists believe in a master faith.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

34. “I don’t know of any army that does more than an Israeli army does to avoid civilian casualties. But incidental and unintended casualties accompany every war.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

35. “The right combination is between a free economy and social policy that addresses the needs of society and creates equal opportunity.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

36. “The application of military force, or the prospect of such application, inhibits terrorist violence.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

37. “The rules of engagement have become so rigid that governments often straightjacket themselves in the face of unambiguous aggression.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

38. “Hamas is simply continuing all its operations. And Israel will not let this terror operation decide when it’s convenient for them and not convenient for them to attack our people.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

39. “I don’t think Israel can accept an Iranian terror base next to its major cities any more than the United States could accept an al Qaeda base next to New York City.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

40. “Hamas is firing at our cities, at our people, firing from these areas, from these homes, from these schools, from mosques, from hospitals. They are actually using them as weapon storage, as command posts and as firing positions, or right next to them.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

41. “I think that peace will require two states, a Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

42. “I don’t think you can rely on Iran. I don’t think you can rely on other radicals like the Taliban. They dispatched Al Qaida to bomb New York and Washington. What were they thinking? Were they that stupid? They weren’t stupid. There is an irrationality there, and there is madness in this method.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

43. “You can make peace with an enemy, if the enemy abandons the idea of destroying you. That is the critical test. Democracies fail to understand that.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

44. “I am certain that I speak on behalf of my entire nation when I say: September 11th we are all Americans – in grief, as in defiance.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

45. “American leaders worry about the security of their country. Israeli leaders worry about the survival of their country.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

46. “The relationship between Israel and the United States is a bond of – it’s just a very powerful bond. It was, it is, and will be and will continue to be.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

47. “My level of intervention in the press, trying to control stories, is zero. Subzero.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

48. “So I think we should stay focused on the real problem in the Middle East. It’s not Israel. It’s these dictatorships that are developing nuclear weapons with the specific goal of wiping Israel away.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

49. “You don’t have people chanting ‘Death to America’ in Israel.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

50. “If there is willingness on the Palestinian side to reach an agreement, it is possible. We are conducting the negotiations with goodwill.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu