Former Premier Golda Meir lectured against pessimism and despondency with regard to Israel’s future here yesterday and declared that while Israel “may be isolated in the world, with the solidarity of the entire Jewish people, we feel strong.”
Mrs. Meir, who was visiting Canada in connection with the 1975 Israel Bond Campaign, spoke to a select audience of 150 top Bond-purchasers at a luncheon given in her honor by Mrs. Samuel Bronfman yesterday afternoon. Last night she addressed an audience of 3500 at the Chevra Kadisha Synagogue. In three appearances here the former Premier was credited with raising over $2 million in Bond sales on top of an already successful fall campaign.
Mrs. Meir sounded the theme of courage, solidarity and tenacity in her speeches. “There may be another war and terrorism will go on but there is hope for peace,” she said last night. “As long as we in Israel maintain our spirits, as long as our Jewish friends all over the world refrain from complaining, ‘how long can this go on,’ we shall over-come. We are all involved in the life and security of our people; in living, growing, building our economy and culture and absorbing our Jewish people in a strong Israel. Standing together we shall prevail.”
PARALLEL BETWEEN HITLER AND ARAFAT
She told the luncheon guests yesterday, “Thousands of young Jews in Israel are worried but none of them is despondent about Israel’s future.” She said, “The first condition for our future is not to be scared. You have heard intelligent people say that I am intransigent, that I have complexes. Yes, I have complexes, the Masada complex, the complex of the thirties when a painter like Hitler asked that the Jewish people be destroyed, and people laughed. But one-third of our people was destroyed.”
Mrs, Meir, in both of her speeches, drew a parallel between the. Hitler era and Yasir Arafat’s reception at the United Nations. “I heard thunderous applause for the butcher of children coming not from Damascus or Beirut but from the General Assembly of the United Nations with Arafat in the international rostrum daring to ask for the destruction of Israel.”
The former Premier said that Israel had to be strong “and not budge one inch from one point which might endanger our lives and our security.” She said Israel was “prepared to talk and negotiate with our neighbors. We are prepared on many things. On territory we can compromise even if it hurts; but on life and death there can be no compromise….Even though the day of peace may be long in coming, the Arabs must be ready to give a little, too. They must suggest some form of non-belligerency without the threat of war. They must make a move for reassurance and security; meet with us to negotiate peace.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
