Yeshayahu Leibowitz Quotes on Politics
Yeshayahu Leibowitz was a Latvian-Israeli philosopher, scientist, and Orthodox Jewish religious thinker, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in biochemistry, neurology, and philosophy, and one of the most distinctive and uncompromising voices of late twentieth-century Israeli thought. This page collects quotes attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz on the topic of politics, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz:
“The state is not a religious value; it is a political instrument that may be used well or ill.”
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Attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz:
“To attribute holiness to the state is to commit idolatry.”
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Attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz:
“Israel must choose between the integrity of its democracy and the project of long-term occupation; it cannot have both.”
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“[W]ithout an agreement imposed from the outside, our situation will deteriorate to that of a second Vietnam , to a war in constant escalation without the prospect of ultimate resolution.”
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“Security " is a reality only where there is true peace between neighbors , as in the case of Holland / Belgium , Sweden / Norway , the United States / Canada . In the absence of peace there is no security, and no geographic-strategic settlement on the land can change this. There is no direct link between security and the territories.”
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“Our security has been diminished rather than enhanced as a result of the conquests in this war.”
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“Our real problem is not the territory but rather the population of about a million and a half Arabs who live in it and over whom we will need to impose our rule. Inclusion of these Arabs (in addition to the half a million who are citizens of the state) in the area under our rule will effect the liquidation of the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people and bring about catastrophe for the Jewish people as a whole; it will undermine the social structure that we have created in the state and cause the corruption of individuals, both Jew and Arab .”
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“As for the " religious " arguments for the annexation of the territories—these are only an expression, subconsciously or perhaps even overtly hypocritical , of the transformation of the Jewish religion into a camouflage for Israeli nationalism . Counterfeit religion identifies national interests with the service of God and imputes to the state—which is only an instrument serving human needs—supreme value from a religious standpoint.”
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