"The opportunities which the present position open up for a lasting and radical solution of the most vexing problem of the Jewish state are so far-reaching as to take one's breath away"
About this Quote
“Take one’s breath away” is the language of awe, not policy memos, and that’s precisely why Moshe Sharett’s line lands with such force. A statesman who usually trafficked in calibrated diplomacy is, here, letting the mask slip: history has handed his side a rare opening, and he wants it treated not as a temporary advantage but as a once-in-a-generation chance to lock in outcomes.
The key phrase is “lasting and radical solution.” “Lasting” signals anxiety about reversibility: borders, demographics, legitimacy, and security are never settled unless they’re made difficult to undo. “Radical” isn’t merely “bold”; it implies structural change, the kind that redraws realities on the ground rather than managing symptoms. Then comes the euphemistic tell: “the most vexing problem of the Jewish state.” He doesn’t name the problem, which is itself revealing. In the political lexicon of the era, this kind of phrasing often functioned as a polite curtain over explosive specifics: the Arab population inside Israel’s reach, the refugee question, territory, and the demographic math that haunted any vision of a “Jewish state.”
Context matters: Sharett operated in the shadow of war and state-building, when military shifts could rapidly become diplomatic faits accomplis. The sentence is trying to convert momentum into permanence, using exalted rhetoric to normalize what might otherwise sound ruthless. Its intent is mobilizing: to make dramatic measures feel not only possible, but almost obligatory, because the window is “so far-reaching” it would be irresponsible not to seize it.
The key phrase is “lasting and radical solution.” “Lasting” signals anxiety about reversibility: borders, demographics, legitimacy, and security are never settled unless they’re made difficult to undo. “Radical” isn’t merely “bold”; it implies structural change, the kind that redraws realities on the ground rather than managing symptoms. Then comes the euphemistic tell: “the most vexing problem of the Jewish state.” He doesn’t name the problem, which is itself revealing. In the political lexicon of the era, this kind of phrasing often functioned as a polite curtain over explosive specifics: the Arab population inside Israel’s reach, the refugee question, territory, and the demographic math that haunted any vision of a “Jewish state.”
Context matters: Sharett operated in the shadow of war and state-building, when military shifts could rapidly become diplomatic faits accomplis. The sentence is trying to convert momentum into permanence, using exalted rhetoric to normalize what might otherwise sound ruthless. Its intent is mobilizing: to make dramatic measures feel not only possible, but almost obligatory, because the window is “so far-reaching” it would be irresponsible not to seize it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Peace |
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