Norman Finkelstein Quotes

There are no easy solutions for Israel's own governance problems.

It is time to change our policy of appeasement toward the Palestinians, to strengthen our ties with the nation of Israel.

Israel is the only country in the world that is ready to make compromises - even though it did not lose any wars.

If the United States has to accept the U.N. resolutions, we have to generalize it across the board. We can't just pick and choose where we impose and accept the U.N. resolution and don't accept them. U.N. Resolution 242 is very clear and states very clearly that Israel has to go back to the borders of the pre-war of 1967.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Jihadism have nothing to do with each other.

President George W. Bush is the first American president to call openly for two-states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

I don't much believe in bumper sticker characterizations of foreign policy.

The Middle East is a very difficult stage to play upon. Without doubt, it is a good drama. And on occasion, there are situations so unimaginable, if not ludicrous, as to make them almost comic. But the cast is constantly changing, the audience is often disengaged, and it seems at times that no one is actually running the show.

Politics is not bean bags. It's serious, tough stuff.

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad. All initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavors.

In politics you have to say, compared to what?

How do you negotiate a two state solution with the Palestinians when they do not believe that one of the states has the right to exist?

I've been mayor of the city of Jerusalem, which is perhaps, in some ways, more complex and more difficult than a ministerial position.

Every country in the world should follow the example of President Trump and move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. But simultaneously, there should be an embassy of all countries in the world in East Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Palestine.

Politics is a lot tougher than physics.

No one was talking about a two-state solution until the '90s, then it became an acceptable solution.

President Abbas and myself, we are the ones who signed the Oslo agreement, so we really know each other, not just theoretically.

What I hear from many people on all sides of the political spectrum is that Palestine has been so carved up now that it's very hard to imagine how a two-state solution is possible. So that's what I hear many experts say, but I myself am not committing one way or the other at this point. I do feel like it's really important to allow the Israelis and Palestinians to begin rehumanizing each other and to move forward from there.

I didn't go into politics out of concern for the Palestinians but out of concern for Israel.

Dealing with political things, it's not for me. It makes me crazy. I want to buy, you want to sell. Please make it simple.

Denying that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel does nothing to promote peace - instead, it disrespects a longtime, helpful and humane ally in the Middle East.

Politics is about the art of the possible.

I think football is football, politics is politics.

I'm not sure whether a person can really gauge the quality of his work by the enemies he's made, but if I somehow upset Hamas and the Taliban and Henry Waxman, I must have done something right.

There is no common ground between us and Iran.