Top 100 Benjamin Netanyahu Quotes (2026 Update)
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51. “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

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

— Benjamin Netanyahu

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

— Benjamin Netanyahu

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

— Benjamin Netanyahu

55. “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

56. “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

57. “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

58. “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

59. “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

60. “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

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

— Benjamin Netanyahu

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

— Benjamin Netanyahu

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

— Benjamin Netanyahu

64. “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

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

— Benjamin Netanyahu

66. “The purpose of the Jewish state is to secure the Jewish future. That is why Israel must always have the ability to defend itself, against any threat.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

67. “Our policy is very simple. The Jewish state was set up to defend Jewish lives, and we always reserve the right to defend ourselves.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

68. “The greatest threat facing humanity is a radical Islamist regime meeting up with nuclear weapons.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

69. “The prime minister of Israel is welcome to speak in the United States, obviously. But we don’t want to see this turned into some great political football.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

70. “If there is a birthrate demographic problem, and there is, it is with the non-White races Israeli Arabs who are American will remain Israeli citizens.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

71. “Israel can make peace with an organization that seeks its destruction. That’s Hamas. But Israel can make peace with the Palestinian Authority. It requires a lot of courage from both sides including President Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

72. “I’ve been right more than I’ve been wrong.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

73. “To subdivide this land into two unstable, insecure nations, to try to defend what is indefensible, is to invite disaster. Carving Judea and Samaria out of Israel means carving up Israel.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

74. “We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by lowly murderers.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

75. “Well, this is an unfortunate part of the UN institution. It’s the – the theater of the absurd. It doesn’t only cast Israel as the villain; it often casts real villains in leading roles: Gadhafi’s Libya chaired the UN Commission on Human Rights; Saddam’s Iraq headed the UN Committee on Disarmament.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

76. “Don’t be fooled. The battle between Iran and ISIS doesn’t turn Iran into a friend of America.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

77. “History of warfare has not yet enabled any army, any civilized army, the army of a democracy like Israel, to be able to deal with a ruthless terrorist enemy that uses civilians as a human shield without having some incidental civilian casualties.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

78. “We want to end this misery of the Palestinian people in order for us really to live with dignity as human beings in an independent state side by side with the Israeli state.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

79. “Anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state, anyone who is going to evacuate territories today, is simply giving a base for attacks to radical Islam.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

80. “Israel has, enjoys bipartisan support – both Democrats and Republicans – and we extend bipartisan hospitality to both Democrats and Republicans.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

81. “Everything should be done to prevent Iran, the world’s most dangerous regime, from developing the world’s most dangerous weapons.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

82. “No other country faces both constant threats to its existence and constant criticism for acting against such threats.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

83. “The Israeli government has proved over the past year its commitment to peace, both in words and deeds. By contrast, the Palestinians are posing preconditions for renewing the diplomatic process in a way they have not done over the course of 16 years.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

84. “But so far, you know who’s been violating the nuclear nonproliferation pact day and night? Those who signed it. Iran, Iraq, Libya and Iran violates it while calling for Israel’s destruction and racing to develop atomic weapons to that end.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

85. “We wanted peace and we wanted to come to terms with the Israelis.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

86. “No one yet knows what awaits the Jews in the twenty-first century, but we must make every effort to ensure that it is better than what befell them in the twentieth, the century of the Holocaust.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

87. “Why are we talking about talking? Why negotiating about negotiating? It’s very simple. If you want to get to peace, put all your preconditions on the side, sit down opposite a table, not in a studio, by the way.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

88. “I will say that I think Israel enjoys strong bipartisan support in the United States. It’s really above and beyond American politics.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

89. “The instability in the region is not a result of Israel and the Palestinians. That was never the cause of this instability. Instead, the disfunctionality of many of these societies that have failed to modernize.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

90. “If we accept the notion that terrorists will have immunity because as they fire on civilians they hide behind civilians, then this tactic will be legitimized and the terrorists will have their greatest victory.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

91. “Israel is very much endangering.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

92. “If the world powers are not prepared to insist that Iran change its behavior before a deal is signed, they should at the very least be prepared to insist that Iran changes its behavior before the deal expires.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

93. “Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon now presides over the UN Security Council. This means, in effect, that a terror organization presides over the body entrusted with guaranteeing the world’s security. You couldn’t make this thing up.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

94. “Those in the international community that refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

95. “I will go to the UN General Assembly and, in a clear voice, tell the nations of the world the truth about Iran’s terrorist regime, which constitutes the greatest threat to world peace.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

96. “I don’t want to govern the Palestinians. I don’t want them as subjects of Israel or as citizens of Israel. I want them to have their own independent state but a demilitarized state.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

97. “A legitimate democracy cannot act against a terror organization because it is using civilians as a human shield, and therefore it should absorb attacks on its own civilians.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

98. “I’m the prime minister who removed 400 checkpoints, barriers, road-blocks and so on to facilitate the growth of the Palestinian economy.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

99. “I say that to my colleagues, by the way, in the internal Cabinet meetings, I say, ‘Look, I want to be very clear about what I want.’ I just – I don’t want a peace process, I want a peace result.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu

100. “I can tell you one thing, Iran is closer to developing nuclear weapons today than it was a week ago, or a month ago or a year ago. It’s just moving on with its efforts.”

— Benjamin Netanyahu