1970 Quotes by Bertrand Russell

Keep in mind that these were written, long before Hamas existed. They are about the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza and West bank and refugee camps in other countries.

"The tragedy of the people of Palestine is that their country was “given” by a foreign Power to another people for the creation of a new State. The result was that many hundreds of thousands of innocent people were made permanently homeless. With every new conflict their number [has] increased. How much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty? It is abundantly clear that the refugees have every right to the homeland from which they were driven, and the denial of this right is at the heart of the continuing conflict. No people anywhere in the world would accept being expelled in masse from their own country; how can anyone require the people of Palestine to accept a punishment which nobody else would tolerate?" ~ Bertrand Russell 1970

"We are frequently told that we must sympathize with Israel because of the suffering of the Jews in Europe at the hands of the Nazis. I see in this suggestion no reason to perpetuate any suffering. What Israel is doing today cannot be condoned, and to invoke the horrors of the past to justify those of the present is gross hypocrisy." ~ Bertrand Russell 1970

"The aggression committed by Israel must be condemned." ~ Bertrand Russell 1970

"Justice requires that the first step towards a settlement must be an Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied in June 1967." ~ Bertrand Russell 1970

Bertrand Russell, Philosopher, Nobel Prize winner, Humanist - one of the most influential intellects of the 20th Century. He published this letter shortly before he died; https://savilleian.substack.com/p/bertrand-russells-last-letter-just