Our intention to regard the closing of the Straits as a casus belli was communicated…to the foreign ministers of those states which had supported international navigation in the Straits in 1957 and thereafter. There can be no doubt that these warnings reached Cairo. One thing was now clear. If Nasser imposed a blockade, the explosion would ensue not from ‘miscalculation’, but from an open-eyed and conscious readiness for war.
Abba Eban
Abba Eban
Tragedy is not what
Tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
Abba Eban
A statesman who keeps
A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.
Abba Eban
Salvation, the prophets tell
Salvation, the prophets tell us, is preconditioned by repentance. The redeeming act of God waits upon man’s initiative.
Abba Eban
Consensus is what many
Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals.
Abba Eban
It [idolatry] nourishes mans
It [idolatry] nourishes mans ambition to domineer over his fellow man. Idolatry, therefore, is the source of all social and moral evil in the world.
Abba Eban
Playing the game I
Playing the game I have learned the meaning of humility. It has given me an understanding of futility of the human effort.
Abba Eban
The Jews are the
The Jews are the living embodiment of the minority, the constant reminder of what duties societies owe their minorities, whoever they might be.
Abba Eban
Lest Arab governments be
Lest Arab governments be tempted out of sheer routine to rush into impulsive rejection, let me suggest that tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
Abba Eban
Science is not a
Science is not a sacred cow. Science is a horse. Don’t worship it. Feed it.
[Addressing a group of prospective contributors to an Israeli scientific research program]
Abba Eban