Quotes Suitable for Framing: Menachem Begin

Biden has a long history of seeking to cut Israel off at the knees.  Forty-two years ago he met the scorn he warranted from the toughest Jew I am aware of, the late Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel:

“Biden’s long and contentious relationship with Israel goes back to June 1982 when, as a senator, Biden threatened another Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin with holding back US aid to Israel which caused Begin to respond, “Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”

Senator Biden reportedly banged on the table with his fist, to which Begin retorted, “This desk is designed for writing, not for fists. Don’t threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the US lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what they think we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats. Take note: we do not want a single soldier of yours to die for us.””

Go here to read the rest.  In his time Begin had stared down interrogators of the NKVD as a prisoner in the Soviet Union in 1940-42.  An utter fool like Biden must have seemed nothing in comparison.