Speeches

These crises are consequences oftremendous international developments, major thunderstorms that have occurred around us. Our past deeds or failures are not the roots of these crises, but ouractions and governing in the near future will determine if we will be able to peacefully overcome them. On this day, I wish to express my full faith in the ability of the people of Israel's ability to successfully contend with the changes they are facing. The State of Israel was established during a testing time, while the echo of the Declaration of Independence was clearly heard: "The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom" Members of the Knesset, No journey is as wonderful as the Jewish one in the midst of time. No struggle as the Jewish struggle to return and re-establish its life as a free and sovereign nation to its homeland is as justified as the Jewish one. There is no question, no doubt on Israel's right to exist in this country. There is no question - and we shall not let anyone and any country to doubt Israel's right to exist. The 21st century had made it very clear that the future of the Jewish people is dependent on the future of the State of Israel, and therefore it is our duty to do all that it takes in order to ensure its security, its might and its prosperity. We can overcome any obstacle, as long as we are determined and united. Therefore it was my goal to unite all of the major political forces in the country. It was the present need, and I put in constant efforts in order to achieve the goal of unity. I am glad that the Labor, an ideological party with a major part in the history of Zionism and settlements, has made the important decision to join hands with Likud and with our other partners. I would like to express my gratitude to the members of this house, who understood the major responsibility in which we are facing, and decided to overcome concerns, to join hands for the Unity government. Members of the Knesset, The security crisis's origin that we are facing is in the rise and spread of extreme Islam in our region as well as in other parts of the world. The most major threat to human kind and to Israel derives from the possibility of a radical regime gaining nuclear weapons. Radical Islam should be segregated from the Arab and Muslim world, which is threatened by the extremists as well. The Islamic culture is great and rich, with many branches. In our people's history has known periods which flourished for Arabs and Jews who lived together and created together. Israel has always, and today more than ever, strives to reach full peace with the entire Arab and Muslim world, and today that yearning is supported by a joint interest of Israel and the Arab countries in fighting against the fanatical obstacle that threatens us all. Radical Islam does not threaten us only, but we are the first to be threatened. It has aspired to eradicate all Arab regimes, and to force the Muslims around the world towards a dark, tyrannical control. It strives to threaten regimes in both east and west by using terrorism and deadly missiles. But all its branches have one goal: to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. It is a big shame for humanity that just a few decades after the Holocaust, the leader of Iran's calls for the destruction of Israel are answered by the world with a small weak voice, with no decisive condemnation, with no determined actions. They almost take it as a routine. But the Jewish people have learned a lesson. We cannot go easy on megalomaniac tyrants who threaten to destroy us. And unlike the awful trauma that we have experienced in the previous century, when we were hopeless and state-less, today we are not defenseless. We have a stateand we know how to protect it. The concern for our national security is the main reason for me and my colleagues to strive to achieve a National Unity Government at this time. Radical Islam is trying to eradicate us from both the north and from the south. We are determined to block terrorism from every direction,and fight it until the end. The one who wants peace should fight terrorism. But in order to achieve peace, our Palestinian partners should fight terrorism, should educate its children for peace and to prepare his people for the recognition and acceptance of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. In the last two decades, six Prime Ministers were not capable of achieving peace, and it was not their fault. I am telling the leaders of the Palestinian Authority: if it is really peace that you seek - it can be achieved. My government will act in order to achieve peace on three parallel paths: the financial, the security and the diplomatic. We will support a Palestinian mechanism which will fight terror. We have no desire to rule over another people. The final peace agreement will enable the Palestinians to rule over themselves, with the exception of things that may threaten Israel. The combination of these three paralleled paths - financial, the security and the diplomatic is the right way to achieve peace. All shortcut attempts that were made until now have brought upon the opposite outcome - increase in terror activities and bloodshed. We will take the sober way, with a positive spirit and with a true intention to bring the conflict between us to an end. Regarding the world economic crisis - it is indeed unprecedented in its parameters. The crisis hurts each and every one of us and threatens the jobs of thousands of Israelis. We do not yet know how and when it will end. But one thing I am convinced of: the Israeli market has an obvious advantage which allows it to better confront it, more than many other economies. The main advantages can be seen in the inventions and initiatives, along side the ability to quickly change. In this case, the fact of our being a small country is a way of extricating ourselves from the crisis. The Israeli market is compared to a speed boat which shifts between the big boats. It is easier to change the course of a speed boat than to change the course of a big one. I intend to lead this change in course. I will navigate Israel's economic strategy. This government is taking upon itself to protecting the job market, to solve the credit crisis and to keep a responsible macro-economic policy. These three destinations do not contradict, even though they may clash. We can achieve all three of them by the cooperation of all major factors in the market - the government, the unions, the employers and the social organization - as long as they are motivated by the concern for our country. At this time, more than ever, our hearts go out to the unemployed, to the seniors and vulnerable communities. Our hearts go out to the worker who lost his job on Passover eve, who lost his livelihood. The urge to deal with the social and economic crisis is the second reason which moved me and my colleagues to strive and achieve national unity. There are additional challenges that we will put on the list of priorities of our government. The time has come for a real revolution in the educational system. We are named the people of the book. From the studies in the classroom to receiving Nobel Prizes, no other nation in the world, in comparison to its size, had contributed as much to the knowledge and culture of mankind. We cannot accept a situation in which our children would not be among the best of the leading students in the world. Therefore, we are challenging to bring back, in ten years, the Israeli students to the top 10 in international exams. Together with perfectionism, we will bring Zionism as well. We shall teach the eternal values of the people of Israel to our children, and cast the values of Jewish and Israeli culture within the spiritual landscape of our country. We shall initiate comprehensive change in the internal security as well. It is the Jewish people who endowed the world the commandments of "thou shall not steal and thou shall kill". Even during our exile, we kept a high standard of morals between individuals and between the individual and the community. Therefore, our minds cannot bear the idea having in within us criminal organizations, who deal with murder and the trafficking of women, and fight each other with weapons in our streets. It is inconceivable that parents in Israel will be afraid to send their children to school or to the beach. We will put an end to it. We will exacerbate punitive action, push for reforms in the police and bolster its ability to fight crime. In the beginning of my words, I quoted the opening chapter of the Declaration of Independence. I am committing to fulfill the entire principles of the Declaration, including a complete equality of all inhabitants of the country, irrespective of religion, race or sex. Our care will be given to all of Israel's inhabitants - Jews, Arabs, Druze, Muslims and Christians. To the Arab citizens I would like to say - you will find me as a devoted partner to work for your integration within Israeli society and the Israeli economy. I believe in that, and I will act in that direction. This is a time of crisis in many aspects. Our governmental system does not match to this kind of time of test. The wide government that is presented to you today, only shows the real need of a national unity, but also represents a certain failure of the existing system. This failure can be fixed, and we will do it. Nonetheless, the government that will be leading Israel in the next few years will need to understand the huge responsibility and obligation it is taking, as well as the important decisions that may define our destiny. I wish to thank outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for his great service for the country. Ehud, when you were just elected as Prime Minister, I told you that soon enough you will find out how many difficulties and obstacles will be placed upon your shoulders. And indeed, you have realized that. It happened in many ways in which the public is not yet aware of. You have acted a lot for the safety and security of Israel and made some brave decisions. Thank you, Ehud. Fellow members of the Knesset, we are approaching the Passover holiday and the night of the Seder. On our "national table" there is an absent seat, the seat of Gilad Shalit. I will do all that I can in order to bring him back healthy to his family. We shall act with the same vigor for the returning of all of our missing soldiers. My fellow Israelis, I have been thinking of what would best describe my inner feelings at this stand, marking Passover of 5769. I have decided to read a part of one of my brother Yoni of blessed memory's letters, about a year prior to his fall in the Entebbe Rescue Operation. Tomorrow is Passover I've always thought it the most wonderful of all our holidays. It's an ancient celebration of freedom - a thousands-of-years-old liberty. When I sail back over the seas of our history, I pass through long years of suffering, of oppression, of massacres, of ghettos, of banishments, of humiliation; many years that, in a historical perspective, seem devoid of any ray of light - yet it isn't so. For the fact that the idea of freedom remained, that the hope persisted, that the flame of liberty continued to burn through the observance of this ancient festival is to me testimony of the eternity of the striving for freedom and the idea of freedom in Israel. I also have a special feeling about Passover because of the Seder, which for me, as for all of us, stirs up personal memories of the past. I clearly remember one Seder in Talpiot, in Jerusalem, when I was six. Among the guests were white-bearded old men like Rabbi Binyamin and Professor Klausner, and my father was there too, and there was a big table and much light. "I find myself in my past" Yoni writes " I mean not only my past, but the way in which I see myself as an inseparable part, a link in the chain of our existence and Israel's independence Fellow citizens of Israel, At this time of test, we shall all see ourselves as an integral part, as a link in the chain of our existence and independence. Over this stage in Jerusalem, our eternal capital, I pray to the Creator of the Universe, that He will bless the work of our hands, and that the unity, in which we have started our way, will be a sign of favor, and the beginning of a great spirit to ensure our future. Happy Passover!