War & Peace Quote by George W. Bush

“Friends” is doing the heavy lifting here. Bush frames foreign policy as personal loyalty, a moralized relationship rather than a maze of interests, treaties, and tradeoffs. It’s a classic presidential move: shrink geopolitics down to a story Americans instantly understand, then invite the audience to judge actions through the lens of character. If you stand by your friends, you’re good; if you don’t, you’re weak or unreliable.

The line lands in the post-9/11 atmosphere where “terrorism and violence” became a single, organizing category that could absorb very different conflicts. By pairing Israel’s security with America’s broader “war on terror” vocabulary, Bush isn’t just expressing solidarity; he’s aligning Israel’s fight with the moral clarity he sold at home. That alignment also narrows the range of acceptable debate: support becomes “steadfast,” while criticism risks sounding like abandonment.

Notice the rhetorical two-step: uncompromising security language first (“steadfast,” “against terrorism”), then the soft, devotional finish (“the peace for which all Israelis pray”). The prayer line is politically nimble. It humanizes Israelis as anxious, ordinary people, and it borrows the cadence of American civil religion to make policy feel like shared faith rather than contested strategy. It also subtly recenters peace as an Israeli desire, sidestepping the harder question of what Palestinians pray for, and what “peace” would demand from all parties.

In context, this is coalition maintenance: reassure a key ally, speak to pro-Israel constituencies at home, and keep the moral narrative of the era intact - security first, peace as the promised horizon.