Was Golda Meir criticized for being too uncompromising?
Some might say I was uncompromising, and perhaps they are right. But when you are responsible for the survival of a people, for their security against those who would see them destroyed, you learn that compromise on fundamental issues is not wisdom, it is weakness. We had learned in the desert to live on little, but we never learned to live in fear or to surrender our right to exist. My decisions were based on what was necessary, on the harsh realities we faced. You cannot be naive when the enemy is at the gates. Sometimes, the only way forward is the difficult, direct path.
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