The historic ideal of the people of Israel to be “a model nation and a light unto the Gentiles” is the “guiding star” in all of Israel’s efforts, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declared tonight.
In greeting the convention of the Israel National Academy, he said this was not forgotten, even though for a long time to come “all efforts must be concentrated on security, immigration, settlement of the Negev and the Galilee, achievement of economic independence and consolidation of Israel’s international position to achieve true peace and cooperation with our Arab neighbors.”
The Prime Minister remarked he was aware that practical men might scoff at such “foolishness” and claim that this historic ideal is no longer in keeping with the modern scientific and practical approach; He added that while he was certainly not a philosopher nor a historian, he was confident that it was “this Messianic ideal which preserved Jewry under conditions no other people could have faced.”
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