Leadership Quote by Ronald Reagan

Reagan’s line lands like a proverb, but it’s really a strategic wager dressed up as common sense. “The greatest security for Israel” signals a familiar Cold War frame: security isn’t just borders and tanks, it’s the regional ecosystem. Then comes the provocative pivot: “to create new Egypts.” Egypt is shorthand for the one Arab giant that, after Camp David, moved from existential enemy to treaty partner. Reagan isn’t praising Egypt so much as turning it into a template.

The intent is twofold. First, it recasts Israel’s safety as something the United States can help manufacture politically, not merely defend militarily. Second, it shifts responsibility outward: if you can produce more states willing to normalize relations, Israel’s security becomes a byproduct of diplomacy and realignment rather than perpetual emergency.

The subtext is the classic Reagan blend of optimism and hard edge. “Create” implies agency, even engineering: incentives, aid, pressure, and the promise of American partnership can reshape a regime’s posture. It also quietly minimizes Palestinian centrality; the path to security runs through state-to-state bargains with pivotal capitals, not necessarily through resolving statelessness. That’s not an accident; it matches an era when Washington’s Middle East policy often privileged strategic alignments over human-scale grievances.

Contextually, it reflects the post-1979 moment: Egypt’s peace deal proved that a cornerstone Arab state could be peeled away from the rejectionist front. Reagan’s formulation turns that precedent into a doctrine: stabilize Israel by multiplying “responsible” Arab partners. It’s elegant rhetoric because it converts a messy region into a repeatable success story - and because it flatters American power with the idea that history can be replicated on command.