Growing up in Israel, how can I not be an optimist? When you remember what Israel was 50 years ago and you see Israel now, one of the most successful countries in the world, stable, democratic, with an enormously stable economy despite everything that has happened in the global economy in the last few years, how can I not be an optimist?

The military operation in Lebanon was the most successful military operation in recent Israeli history. Many in Israel don't recognise that.

Leadership is tested not by one's capacity to survive politically but by the ability to make tough decisions in trying times.

I never thought that Syria and Israel should engage in a violent confrontation because I don't think that there is any particular interest for any of us to do it.

It is important that democracy in Lebanon is protected and that Hezbollah will not be supported by outside forces like Syria and Iran.

For thousands of years, we Jews have been nourished and sustained by a yearning for our historic land. I, like many others, was raised with a deep conviction that the day would never come when we would have to relinquish parts of the land of our forefathers. I believed and to this day still believe in our people's eternal and historic right to this entire land.

There is no ceasefire. There will not be any ceasefire.