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The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.

David Ben-Gurion

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David Ben-Gurion
Age: 87 †
Born: 1886
Born: October 16
Died: 1973
Died: December 1
Politician
Statesman
Trade Unionist
Dominion of Canada
David Grün
Ben-Gurion
Censorship
Feminism
Test
Tests
Criticism
Democracy
Freedom

More quotes by David Ben-Gurion

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The State of Israel will prove itself not by material wealth, not by military might or technical achievement, but by its moral character and human values.
David Ben-Gurion
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The acceptance of partition does not commit us to renounce Transjordan: one does not demand from anybody to give up his vision. We shall accept a state in the boundaries fixed today, but the boundaries of Zionist aspirations are the concern of the Jewish people and no external factor will be able to limit them.
David Ben-Gurion
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To shatter even the largest stones on earth, it takes only a small quantity of explosive powder.
David Ben-Gurion
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The old will die and the young will forget.
David Ben-Gurion
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The present map of Palestine was drawn by the British mandate. The Jewish people have another map which our youth and adults should strive to fulfill: from the Nile to the Euphrates.
David Ben-Gurion
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In the midst of wanton aggression, we still call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to return to the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, with full and equal citizenship and due representation in its bodies and institutions - provisional or permanent.
David Ben-Gurion
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Everybody sees a difficulty in the question of relations between Arabs and Jews. But not everybody sees that there is no solution to this question. No solution! There is a gulf, and nothing can bridge it... We, as a nation, want this country to be ours the Arabs, as a nation, want this country to be theirs.
David Ben-Gurion
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We don't consider manual work as a curse, or a bitter necessity, not even as a means of making a living. We consider it as a high human function, as the basis of human life, the most dignified thing in the life of the human being, and which ought to be free, creative. Men ought to be proud of it.
David Ben-Gurion
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We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return
David Ben-Gurion
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After eighty, there are no enemies, only survivors.
David Ben-Gurion
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Referring to Palestinian refugees: We must do everything in our power to ensure that they never return.
David Ben-Gurion
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Under no circumstances must we touch land belonging to fellahs or worked by them. Only if a fellah leaves his place of settlement, should we offer to buy his land, at an appropriate price.
David Ben-Gurion
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The past is our very being.
David Ben-Gurion
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It is in the Negev that the creativity and pioneer vigor of Israel shall be tested.
David Ben-Gurion
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You must talk to us as equals, or not talk to us at all.
David Ben-Gurion
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We will make a great and awful mistake if we fail to settle Hebron, neighbor and predecessor of Jerusalem, with a large Jewish settlement, constantly growing and expanding, very soon. This will also be a blessing to the Arab neighbors. Hebron is worthy to be Jerusalem's sister.
David Ben-Gurion
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We must assist the British in the war as if there were no White Paper and we must resist the White Paper as if there were no war.
David Ben-Gurion
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We offer peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Hebrew nation for the common good of all.
David Ben-Gurion
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It's not a matter of maintaining the status quo. We have to create a dynamic state, oriented towards expansion.
David Ben-Gurion
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From Jewish terrorism against Arabs it is a short step to Jewish terrorism against Jews.
David Ben-Gurion