“Despite all the attacks against me, I will continue to defend our state. I will continue to defend the citizens of Israel,” Prime Minister Netanyahu declared.
“When Israel is pressured to make concessions on its security, it is very easy to give in. There are ovations and ceremonies on lawns – and afterwards come the missiles and the tunnels,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Wednesday at a memorial event at the Knesset for IDF Maj.-Gen. Rehavam Ze’evy.
A former tourism minister who had also served as Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Anti-Terror Matters and Intelligence and as chairman of the board of the Land of Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, among other prestigious posts, Ze’evi was murdered by Arab terrorists in 1999 who shot him in the head at the Jerusalem Hyatt Hotel. He was laid to rest in a state funeral with full military honors at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.
“As Prime Minister, I am responsible for Israel’s security,” Netanyahu said. “I care about the lives of every citizen and soldier. I have been on the battlefield many times. I have risked my life for the country and I am not prepared to make concessions that will endanger our state. It must be understood that our supreme interests, with security and the unity of Jerusalem first and foremost, are not among the top concerns of those anonymous elements that are attacking us and me personally, because the attack on me comes only because I am defending the State of Israel. If I did not defend the State of Israel, if I did not vigorously uphold our national and security interests, they would not attack me. And despite all the attacks against me, I will continue to defend our state. I will continue to defend the citizens of Israel.”
The Israeli leader was apparently referring to a personal attack against him, in which an anonymous senior official in the U.S. Administration had called him “chickens**t.”
Support from American Public at an ‘All-Time High’
“I would also like to add that I respect and appreciate our deep ties with the US. Since the foundation of our state we have had disagreements with the US and we will yet have them. But this is not at the expense of the deep ties between our peoples and countries. And we see this again and again, including this year, in the rise in support for the State of Israel among the American public, support that has reached an all-time high. The strategic alliance, and the alliance in values, between the two countries is continuing and will continue.”
Author: United with Israel Staff