Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a pro- Israel lobby on Monday that “Jerusalem is not a settlement,” but is Israel’s capital. “The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital,” Netanyahu told the pro-Israel lobby Aipac in prepared remarks.
He also said Israel expects swift and decisive action against the Iranian nuclear threat, but reserves the right to defend itself.
“As the world faces monumental challenges, I know that Israel and America will face them together,” said Netanyahu, opening his speech after a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He told his audience of some 8,000 pro-Israel activists, “The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel cannot be denied. The connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem cannot be denied.”
He continued to say, “In Jerusalem, my government has maintained the policies of all Israeli governments since 1967, including those led by Golda Meir, Menachem Begin and Yitzchak Rabin. Today, nearly a quarter of a million Jews, almost half the city’s Jewish population, live in neighborhoods that are just beyond the 1949 armistice lines. All these neighborhoods are within a five-minute drive from the Knesset. They are an integral and inextricable part of modern Jerusalem. Everyone knows that these neighborhoods will be part of Israel in any peace settlement. Therefore, building them in no way precludes the possibility of a two-state solution.”
As an example to the Jewish people’s link to Jerusalem, he told his audience of a signet ring he has in display in his office: “The ring was found next to the Western wall, but it dates back some 2,800 years ago, two hundred years after Kind David turned Jerusalem into our capital city. The ring is a seal of a Jewish official, and inscribed on it in Hebrew is his name: Netanyahu. His name was Netanyahu Ben-Yoash.”
Netanyahu then mentioned the Holocaust, and the price the Jewish people had to pay: “Ultimately, two of history’s greatest leaders helped turn the tide. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill helped save the world. But they were too late to save six million of my own people.”
He stressed that “the future of the Jewish state can never depend on the goodwill of even the greatest of men. Israel must always reserve the right to defend itself.”
{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel/AFP, Agencies}
Bibi say this loud and clear for those who need to hear it, PRESIDENT, CONGRESS, HILLARY, MITCHEL and the Jews in Israel and around the world. AIPAC knows the truth already.
Excellently said by Bibi! Please stick to your words and show the pride and integrity you have!PLEASE dont cave in to any pressure from US or any other self interest motivated country! Just one major modification to your comment. “The future of the Jewish state can never depend on the goodwill of even the greatest men” but only on the will of G-D, the HOLY one who gave us the right to this LAND long long ago as a eternal covenant. But we ISRAEL must keep that covenant and every commandmant inside it….