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Begin Tells Israel Exactly Where Herut Stands

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Begin addresses the national council of the Herut Movement and focuses on the Labor Party’s move of taking peace decisions that are contrary to the lines of policy accepted by both the Knesset and the Government of National Unity. Begin first speaks about the Russia-Egypt relationship. He argues that Israel’s enemies will be defeated and that it is a duty for the nation to settle in land gained from the Six-Day War. Furthermore, the National Unity Government should be supporting this. He shifts to speak about the costs and benefits of Gahal both leaving and remaining in the Government of National Unity. He concludes that Herut stands for the Jewish people’s right to Israel, and “there can be no division between a peace treaty and a condition for security.”

We Shall Not Be Denied the Fruits of Our Victory

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Begin focuses on the land Israel gained from the 1967 war. He argues that Israel was not the aggressor and to prove this, he provides the definition of an aggressor in an international conflict. Then he shows how Arab nations were the aggressors, according to the definition he provided. Begin then discusses the international law that an aggressor does not have a right to the land it lost with or without a peace treaty. He then talks about the physical size of Israel and how Israel cannot jeopardize its national security and does not want more Israeli bloodshed. He reflects on the massive bloodshed of Jews during the Holocaust and how powerful countries allowed it to happen. He wants Israel to have freedom of fear, freedom from want, and freedom from danger of destruction. He talks about how the Jewish-Christian relations will become stronger. Additionally, he has hopes for better Jewish-Muslim relations.

Declaration of the Rights of the Jewish People to its Homeland, to Liberty, Security and Peace

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A statement by Begin at the Ninth Convention of the Herut Movement in Jerusalem. He declares that the right of the Jewish people to the whole of Eretz Israel is unalienable. The Jews were exiled nearly 2000 years ago, but they never lost their connection to Eretz Israel. The other nations of the world also recognized the right of the Jews to Eretz Israel, though they also tried to institute illegal and colonialist partitions of the land. Israel must extend its sovereignty over all of its rightful territory. The Jews recently suffered the destruction fo a third of their worldwide population, and Israel remains surrounded by enemies who want to destroy it. Israelis want peace with the Arab nations, through peace treaties, but for its security as well as for its rights it must retain control of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Israel will provide equal right to all Arabs and citizenship to any Arab living under Israeli sovereignty who desires it.

The Magnificent Emergency

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Article by Begin for Yom Haatzmaut (Israel Independence Day) 1968, recounting the events that had transpired since the previous Independence Day. On Yom Haatzmaut 1967, even as Jews were both mourning the Holocaust and celebrating the resurgence of their people Israel, Colonel Nasser of Egypt ordered his troops to go into the Northern Sinai Peninsula. Soon the combined forces of three large Arab armies from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan surrounded Israel. Israel still won and took the Suez Canal, but Nasser was still spouting the same rhetoric a year after the war. Other Arab leaders made similar declarations about their intent to destroy Israel, in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. Israel is in a state of “magnificent emergency” where it is under threat but has great opportunities to settle and claim its land. To this end Israel needs another mass aliyah from western Jewry and to initiate economic reforms to ensure a free market and economic growth that westerners expect.

Begin Stresses Herut Role in Victory

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On the occasion of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Begin notes the contribution of Herut and other disciples of Ze’ev Jabotinsky to Israel’s creation, survival and victory in the Six-Day War.