Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaking on March 5, 2013 to the final plenary session of the 2013 AIPAC Policy Conference:
You know, clearly the Holocaust was the most sinister possible reminder that the Jewish population in exile was in constant jeopardy. It was a definitive argument that anti-Semitism could appear anywhere. And its horrors galvanized international support for the state of Israel. But let's be very clear. While the Shoah has a central role in Israel's identity, it is not the reason behind its founding and it is not the main justification for its existence. That extreme characterization of that mistaken view is that Western powers established Israel in 1948 based on their own guilt, at the expense of Arab peoples who live there. Therefore, the current state is illegitimate and should be wiped off, off the face of the map.
This flawed argument is not only in defiance of basic human dignity, but in plain defiance of history. It is in defiance of ancient history, as told in Biblical texts and through archeological evidence. It ignores the history of millennia. Several thousand years of history leads to an undeniable conclusion. The establishment of the state of Israel in modern times is a political reality with roots going back to King David and the time of Abraham and Sarah.
The argument for Israel's legitimacy does not depend on what we say in any speech; it has been made by history. It has been made by the men and women who made the desert green, by Nobel prizes earned, by groundbreaking innovations and enviable institutions, by lives saved, by democracy defended, by peace made, by battle won. There can be no denying the Jewish people's legitimate right to live in peace and security in a homeland to which they have a connection for thousands of years.
The above excerpt is reminiscent of the historic May 15, 2008 address by President George W. Bush to the Israeli Knesset, which contained the following:
We gather to mark a momentous occasion. Sixty years ago in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence, founded on the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate. What followed was more than the establishment of a new country; it was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham and Moses and David, a homeland for the chosen people, Eretz Yisrael. …
The alliance between our governments is unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty. It is grounded in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul. When William Bradford stepped off the Mayflower in 1620, he quoted the words of Jeremiah: "Come let us declare in Zion the word of God." The Founders of my country saw a new promised land and bestowed upon their towns names like Bethlehem and New Canaan. And in time, many Americans became passionate advocates for a Jewish state.
Centuries of suffering and sacrifice would pass before the dream was fulfilled. The Jewish people endured the agony of the pogroms, the tragedy of the Great War, and the horror of the Holocaust–what Elie Wiesel called "the kingdom of the night." Soulless men took away lives and broke apart families. Yet they could not take away the spirit of the Jewish people, and they could not break the promise of God. When news of Israel's freedom finally arrived, Golda Meir, a fearless woman raised in Wisconsin, could summon only tears. She later said: "For 2,000 years, we have waited for our deliverance. Now that it is here, it is so great and wonderful that it surpasses human words."
What Golda Meir spoke of – a moment awaited for 2,000 years, so great and wonderful that it surpassed human words – was literally true.
The above two speeches have set a high bar for President Barack Obama when he visits Jerusalem, Israel, later this month.