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link to www.jpost.com]
Netanyahu addresses current wave of terror as he speaks at opening of Knesset winter session.
Israel will be here forever and will overcome terrorism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in his address to the Knesset at the opening of its winter session Monday.
"After 100 years of terrorism and 100 years of attempts to destroy the Zionist enterprise, our enemies still have not learned," he said. "Suicide terrorism was not victorious over us in the 90s and 00s, and the terrorism of knives will not be victorious over us now. What always wins is the recognition that this is our home and our homeland "Our will to live trumps our enemies' desire for death. There is no way to stop the Zionist enterprise," the prime minister added.
Netanyahu said the "courage of our security forces and our citizens, and the mutual responsibility that characterizes our nation" are what will help Israel overcome terrorism, combined with new laws to stiffen penalties for rock- and Molotov cocktail-throwers.
The prime minister pointed out that now is far from the first time libels about the Temple Mount were used to provoke violence against Jews, specifically mentioning lies by the former Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin al-Husseini that sparked the 1929 massacres of Jews in Israel. To show that the lies are deliberate, Netanyahu read from a Wakf-published pamphlet from several years prior to the pogrom that says Haram al-Sharif, the Arabic name for the Temple Mount, is at the site of the Temple built by King Solomon.
"There are some who still say today that Jews have no connection to the Temple Mount...They say that Jews make the Mount dirty and impure. They repeat the lie over and over again that we want to destroy the Al-Aksa Mosque or change the status quo in the place. That is a total lie," he stated.
Netanyahu repeated several times that Israel seeks to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount and protect the holy places of all religions.
The lies are being disseminated by Hamas, the northern branch of the Islamic Movement - which the prime minister is seeking to outlaw - and the Palestinian Authority, he added, calling on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to denounce terrorism as Netanyahu did hate crimes by Israelis against Arabs.
Netanyahu said that Abbas constantly refuses to negotiate, because he knows that would mean declaring an end to the conflict, giving up on the right of return, and recognizing Israel as the Jewish state.
"[The Palestinians'] refusal to recognize a Jewish State in any borders is and has always been the root of the conflict," Netanyahu stated.
MKs from the Joint List demonstratively walked out when Netanyahu took the stand, so they were not present when the prime minister came out against some of them for inciting. "We want coexistince, and we are investing in the Arab sector as no government has before, but there is a member of this House who said 'the Henkin family [killed by Palestinians in front of their two children] are settlers. You cannot treat them as innocent civilians.' What does that mean? That you're allowed to murder them?" Netanyahu said, referring to MK Bassel Ghattas (Joint List)...
Edited to 50%
Last Edited by Saddletramp on 10/12/2015 04:23 PM
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