Skip to content
quotesby

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese - and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace.

Eric Hoffer#91

EthicsWarInternational relationsDiplomacyMiddle east

About this quote

What does it mean?
Hoffer argues that Israel faces unique international double standards compared to other nations regarding refugees and peace negotiations.
In plain terms
Other nations expel people without penalty, but Israel is held to stricter rules about refugees and peace.
What can you take from it?
Double standards in international relations often target specific nations disproportionately.

Where it applies

  • analyzing foreign policy
  • debating conflict resolution

Putting it to work

  • compare international precedents
  • identify biased narratives

Questions to consider

  • How do double standards affect diplomatic trust?
  • What makes a refugee crisis unique?

Another view

The comparison overlooks unique historical and security contexts surrounding the Israeli-Arab conflict.

More from Eric Hoffer

  1. The attitude of the intellectual community toward America is shaped not by the creative few but by the many who for one reason or another cannot transmute thei…

    Permalink to quote #90
  2. Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should Israel be defeated …

    Permalink to quote #92
  3. Up to now, America has not been a good milieu for the rise of a mass movement. What starts out here as a mass movement ends up as a racket, a cult, or a corpor…

    Permalink to quote #89

Related quotes

  1. We would have to make clear to our German ally our disagreement on three points: treatment of the occupied countries, excesses towards the Jews, and relations …

    Ugo CavalleroUgo Cavallero quote #1
  2. The Council of the Union of Democratic Control re-affirms its unshaken conviction that a lasting settlement cannot be secured by a peace based upon the right o…

    Norman AngellNorman Angell quote #2
  3. I think we need to continue working hard on developing a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East... unfortunately things are not going in the right direct…

    Mohamed ElBaradeiMohamed ElBaradei quote #3