Netanyahu also notes plan to turn Israel into AI superpower. “This is the future and we are going there.”
By Ben Rappaport, United with Israel
At the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed plans for a transportation “revolution” in Israel.
“Today, we are launching the ‘One Israel’ project – to link the entire country with a fast railway from Kiryat Shemona to Eilat,” Netanyahu announced.
“This project is underway with a NIS 100 billion multi-year budget. My vision is that every citizen in the country will be able to go to and from the center of the country, from anywhere in the state, in less than two hours.
“In most cases, it will be less than one hour – and even less than that. No traffic jams, no air pollution no parking problems – comfortably and safely, a huge revolution,” he explained.
“I would like to thank the previous, energetic, Transportation Minister, Yisrael Katz, and the current, energetic, Transportation Minister, Miri Regev, and also the many other ministers who joined the effort in realizing this vision, which will change the face of the country.”
Netanyahu added that “In the future, we will be able to transport freight by rail from Eilat to our Mediterranean Sea ports, and we will also be able to link Israel by rail to Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula. We are working on this as well.”
The prime minister also discussed plans to turn Israel into an AI “superpower.”
“Who seizes the future now? Whoever seizes the future and turns Israel – this is our plan – into one of the five world superpowers in artificial intelligence,” he said.
“Just as we did in cyber, so we will turn Israel not into a rising force among the nations, but a superpower among the nations. This is our plan.
“We will not just provide relief for the cost of living, which we have lowered, and the transportation, housing, education and social welfare for the citizens of Israel – we want, and must, turn the State of Israel into a superpower among the nations in artificial intelligence. This is the future and we are going there.”
Netanyahu also commented threats made by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah over the weekend.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah “will not hesitate and will be ready for any development or stupidity” on Israel’s part.
“The Zionist entity is the source of evil and a cancerous growth in our region. Our region will not calm down until this cancerous growth and this germ of corruption is removed. We in Hezbollah stand by the resistance of the Palestinian people,” Nasrallah added.
“Regarding Nasrallah’s threats from his bunker,” Netanyahu said, “we are not impressed. At the crucial moment, he will find us standing together, shoulder to shoulder. Even Nasrallah knows that it is worth neither his while, nor Lebanon’s, to put us to the test.”