Obama is like the kid brother whose only standard for judging his own achievements is the records his big brother set. – Elliott Abrams
Al Qaeda’s message that violence, terrorism and extremism are the only answer for Arabs seeking dignity and hope is being rejected each day in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and throughout the Arab lands. – Elliott Abrams
I don’t think a Palestinian state is going to be created at a conference table; it will be created on the ground in the West Bank, and some day, a peace conference will ratify that which has been built on the ground. – Elliott Abrams
On taking office in 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama put Israeli settlements at the center of U.S. policy in the Middle East. – Elliott Abrams
The Arab view that someone should bomb Iran and stop it from developing nuclear weapons is familiar to anyone who meets privately with Arab leaders, especially in the Gulf. – Elliott Abrams
America was not founded to improve health care or housing; it was founded for freedom. – Elliott Abrams
I grew up in Queens, in New York City, in a middle class Jewish family. My mother was a public school teacher, my father was a lawyer. They were Democrats – kind of middle-of-the-road democrats. – Elliott Abrams
You can easily see why the experience of Jews would be helpful if you’re looking to get action on religious persecution. – Elliott Abrams
In the Bill Clinton years, the foreign leader who visited the White House most often was Yasser Arafat – 13 times. – Elliott Abrams
The U.S. has the power to block all anti-Israel moves in the Security Council, not just some of them, and to do so without agreeing to unfair, damaging compromises. – Elliott Abrams
Enlightened despots are mythical creatures; real despots seem more interested in stealing money or installing their sons after them. – Elliott Abrams
The Obama administration appears to regard intelligence leaks and briefings more or less like briefings by the Democratic National Committee or White House flack Jay Carney. You use any information at hand, classified or not, and you spin it any way you like, fairly or not. – Elliott Abrams
Every Arab ‘republic’ has been a republic of fear, but only Saddam Hussein’s Iraq surpassed the Assads’ Syria in number of victims. – Elliott Abrams
The Sandinistas are a tough bunch of guys, with a fabulous amount of Soviet Bloc equipment and Soviet Bloc advisers. – Elliott Abrams
Palestine, as Icelanders see it, includes the Western Wall of the Second Temple, Judaism’s holiest site. – Elliott Abrams
Thousands of members of Congress have come and gone over the years, their individual achievements hidden in committee reports, private compromises, amendments pushed through or blocked, and innumerable, unnoticed meetings. – Elliott Abrams
The ransoming of captives has been practiced by Jews for many centuries and has been regarded as a greater obligation than charity for the poor. – Elliott Abrams
I would have thought that if you’re going to try to punish the Syrians and prevent them from using chemical weapons again, the thing to do is a one-time strike. Maybe a cruise missile strike at one or two of their air bases just so they know what they’re going to gain from using chemical weapons on the battlefield. – Elliott Abrams
In Arab capitals, the failure of the United States to stop Iran’s nuclear program is understood as American weakness in the struggle for dominance in the Middle East, making additional cooperation from Arab leaders on Israeli-Palestinian issues even less likely. – Elliott Abrams
If a Jewish group sat down with a Christian conservative group, and there was a so-called Messianic Jew at the table, that would be the end of the meeting. – Elliott Abrams
America’s relations with complex Middle Eastern states such as Egypt are often difficult. – Elliott Abrams