David Ben Gurion puts John Foster Dulles in his place
Heh.In 1954, when Ben Gurion was Prime Minister, he traveled to the USA to meet with President Eisenhower to request his assistance and support in the early and difficult days of the State of Israel.John Foster Dulles, who was the then secretary of state, confronted Ben Gurion and challenged him as follows:"Tell me, Mr. Prime Minister - who do you and your state represent? Does it represent the Jews of Poland, perhaps Yemen, Romania,Morocco, Iraq, Russia or perhaps Brazil? After 2000 years of exile can you honestly speak about a single nation, a single culture? Can you speak about a single heritage or perhaps a single Jewish tradition?"Ben Gurion answered him as follows:"Look, Mr. Secretary of State - approximately 300 years ago the Mayflower set sail from England and on it were the first settlers who settled in what would become the largest demo-cratic superpower known as the United States of America. Now, do me a favor - go out into the streets and find 10 American children and ask them the following:What was the name of the Captain of the Mayflower?How long did the voyage take?What did the people who were on the ship eat?What were the conditions of sailing during the voyage?I'm sure you would agree with me that there is a good chance that you won't get a good answer to these questions.Now in contrast - not 300 but more than 3000 years ago, the Jews left the land of Egypt.I would kindly request from you Mr. Secretary that on one of your trips around the world, try and meet 10 Jewish children in different countries. And ask them:'What was the name of the leader who took the Jews out of Egypt?''How long did it take them before they got to the land of Israel?'What did they eat during the period when they were wandering in the desert?''And what happened to the sea when they encountered it?''Once you get the answers to these questions, please carefully reconsider the question that you have just asked me!"
UPDATE MONDAY 7:49 PM
For those wondering about the authenticity of this story, the Ben Gurion quote is apparently accurate, the connection to Dulles is not.
Labels: David Ben Gurion, Dwight Eisenhower, Jews
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:04 AM
5 Comments:
I have a feeling that this is not documented anywhere.
Nevertheless, the logic of the discussion, fake as it might be, holds true.
I wonder how many Jewish children could still answer the question in light of the Pew poll.
Shy Guy, it's documented all over the internet. Just Google:
Ben Gurion John Foster Dulles, and you'll find the documentation about which you are skeptical.
Well said, PM Ben Gurion!
And thank you, Harry Truman, for having the guts to take on the State Dept and all the other Nay-Sayers by ordering the immediate diplomatic recognition of the State of Israel in 1948!
Marvin, where do you see documentation? I was not able to find anything conclusive, and in one place saw the conversation as taking place between Ben-Gurion and Eisenhower. I would be happy to see proof that this conversation took place and stating who the participants in the conversation were.
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