Political Quotes

“I would like to recount a little history--a history I'm sure many are familiar with. One hundred years ago last August, the first World Zionist Congress convened in the Swiss city of Basel. Although the gathering attracted little attention at the time, what transpired then would forever change the course of Jewish history, and indeed world history. What later came to be known as the Basel Program stated quite simply that the aim of Zionism was ``To create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law.'' With that simple proposition, the delegates at the first Congress formally set into motion the Jewish national liberation movement. It would mean the fulfillment of a spiritual yearning that had remained unrealized for over two millennia. At the conclusion of the conference, Theodor Herzl recorded a prescient entry in his diary: In Basel, I founded the Jewish state. If I were to say this aloud I would meet with laughter; but in another five years, and certainly in another fifty years, everyone will be convinced of this. From the distance of a hundred years, I can say we are convinced. Of course, it took fifty years of sacrifice--and a world shamed by the Holocaust--before Herzl's dream of a Jewish homeland became a reality. But it happened, and tomorrow we celebrate fifty years of Israeli independence. In that short span of time, Israel has become the beacon of hope for Jews the world over.…”