Smoking Gun Quotes



“It was hopelessly exotic for me. I mean, I’m from the South Shore of Long Island, and then all of a sudden I’m in the Negev Desert, by the Egyptian border, as a prison guard in what’s probably the largest prison in the Middle East, guarding the future leaders of Palestine. It was pretty exciting.”

—On being a prison guard in an detention camp for Palestinian political prisoners; New Yorker interview; Sept. 25 2006

I had an unusual job at Ketziot. Most soldiers were forbidden to talk to the prisoners. But I was a "prisoner counselor," a job title that did not reflect accurately my duties in the related fields of discipline and punishment . . .

—From Prisoners; 2006

“In five years . . . I believe that the coming invasion of Iraq will be remembered as an act of profound morality.”

—Slate; Oct. 3, 2002

The next president must do one thing, and one thing only, if he is to be judged a success: He must prevent Al Qaeda, or a Qaeda imitator, from gaining control of a nuclear device and detonating it in America. Everything else - Fannie Mae, health care reform, energy independence, the budget shortfall in Wasilla, Alaska - is commentary.

—On the eve of the 2008 U.S. presidential elections Goldberg outlined what he thought was the single most important issue facing the incoming president; The New York Times, Sept. 10, 2008

Soldiers should also be trained to take their behavioral cues not from the macho American movie stars on which they were weaned, but from waiters in pricey restaurants: "Hi, my name's Motti and I'll be arresting you today. Our specials this week are administrative detention without trial and a lovely salad Nicoise. Would you like some fresh ground pepper with your handcuffs?" . . . Of course, when confronted by unrepentant axe-wielding, Molotov cocktail throwers, soldiers should shoot first, act polite later.

—One of Goldberg's suggestions on how to improve Israel's "armed administration" of the Palestinian people; Jerusalem Post, 1991

Known Associates

Goldberg runs a neocon Beltway Torah study group that includes David Brooks, David ­Gregory and Martin Indyk, an ex-AIPAC official and former U.S. ambassador to Israel. Indyk is also known for coming up with the neocon-designed anti-Iraq/Iran "dual containment" policy the U.S. is still following today. Jeffrey Goldberg was introduced to his future wife by Malcolm Gladwell.