PM Netanyahu’s Speech at the Special Knesset Session Celebrating “Those Who Love Jerusalem”

PM Netanyahu's Speech at the Special Knesset Session Celebrating "Those Who Love Jerusalem and Study It"

When I was growing up in Jerusalem, it was a sleepy town, one closed to development. Since then, it has developed primarily northwards, southwards and westwards. To some extent, it has grown eastwards. It has grown and become a large metropolis. Soon it will have one million inhabitants. It is a large and vibrant city, but not one without problems.

We tend to speak a great deal about reversing certain trends in this city, and rightfully so, because we view the city as more than just a concept - Zion as a universal concept - but also as a real city that must be developed. During this week's Cabinet meeting, which the Mayor also attended, we spoke about the changes we want to introduce in Jerusalem. Trends can be overturned. Because certain tendencies negatively reinforce themselves, once you turn it around, the positive tendencies will begin to reinforce themselves.

We spoke about a number of important actions being taken in the field of leisure and culture in Jerusalem, which already has firm roots. We spoke about the housing problem that must certainly be dealt with. However, in my opinion, in practical terms the key to making these changes is to make fundamental changes in employment patterns, in the economic map and in the engines that drive employment and create economic growth in Jerusalem.

To this end, the government intends to assign Jerusalem high priority. This priority will be even higher than in other regions of the country. Why? Because it is Jerusalem. It is our capital, and we would like to strengthen it, not only in terms of our heritage and identification with the city, but also by creating conditions that would induce factories and businesses to come to Jerusalem, and propel other economic activity. We can ensure that this happens.

There are several fields that are obvious. Jerusalem has a high concentration of people working in the fields of the life sciences, medicine, bio-technology and medical equipment. There are approximately 1,000 doctors here and thousands of others are part of this core of knowledge, as a result of Jerusalem's excellent hospitals. Of course, there is also the extensive field of tourism and heritage - whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim - in Jerusalem. However, tourists need more hotels and other infrastructures than exist here today.

Therefore, we are putting together a practical action plan - in addition to the transportation plan and the other plans that we have joined the Jerusalem Municipality in implementing. We have to improve Jerusalem's economic engine.

This need does not cancel out the other activities we are undertaking, but without addressing the economic question, we will not be able to achieve the critical effect of reversing the trends we want reversed. I know that everyone in this House shares this desire, and I welcome this. I already mentioned what we need today - a practical plan together with an ongoing commitment to reverse trends.

We saw reversals in other spheres of our life in areas where it seemed as if we were drowning, and when we look at an international comparison in several central areas, various governments managed to change several trends. This must also be done here in Jerusalem, and it can be done. We will begin the process.

That is why we want "lower Jerusalem" and "middle Jerusalem" to be connected with "upper Jerusalem", and to ensure that, before this happens, the practical infrastructure for the prosperity, security and stability of Jerusalem is laid.

Jerusalem must become much more than it was. When we were young, it was a city comprised of the highest levels of government officials, doctors and academics. But it did not have the economic foundation that I believe we must build in order to ensure that these foundations and other foundations blend together; to truly ensure its force and status as the capital of Israel - the modern, prosperous and dynamic capital of our country.

Various governments sought to strengthen Jerusalem and acted accordingly. But what was done, as important and welcome as it was, was not enough - and I include all of us in this statement, because I served as Prime Minister between 1996 and 1999 and worked with then-Mayor Ehud Olmert, and there were other prime ministers and ministers of finance after me. We need to change this trend, and this obligates wide-scale activity and progress on all fronts in order to bring about this change.

I mentioned several fields, but the economic field is the critical one on which we will focus, together with the assistance of the Mayor in those fields in which he is already working. "From Zion will come forth software", but this does not cancel out the fact that from Zion comes forth the Torah. This is the most natural thing that can be.

I do not want to build the future while disassociating from the past. This is inappropriate and wrong. I'm not saying it's practical. I believe in the strength of our bond with Jerusalem, because it includes a dimension that crosses generations. I don't think that any other people have such a bond, and I don't believe that this bond will be broken as a result of a passing fad. I really believe that no other people has such a strong bond with its capital as the people of Israel have with Jerusalem.

We called the renascent movement for Jewish sovereignty Zionism, after Zion. We have cities called Rishon Lezion [the First of Zion in Hebrew], to where my grandfather came at the end of the 19th century. There is Nes Ziona [the Miracle of Zion] and Shavei Zion [the Return to Zion]. I didn't check how many communities have "Zion" in their names in the Negev region, but there is no doubt that "Zion" encompasses our love for the entire Land of Israel.

I believe that our bond with Jerusalem, with Zion, is different from the bond of any other people. Our bond withstood thousands of years and three destructions: the destruction of the First Temple, the destruction of the Second Temple and the destruction that came 60 years after the destruction of the Second Temple. Through all this, our longing for Jerusalem and Zion remained unshakable. It was expressed throughout the generations, "Next year in Jerusalem", next year in the built Jerusalem.

This desire had already been realized through the Jews that made their way here before the birth of the Zionist movement, in the 19th century - the Jews were already a majority here then. Later on, through the activities of groups like the Hovevei Zion movement, founded before Herzl rose to prominence, we returned to the city and built here, and we are ready to go on doing so. Yesterday I asked a question for which I owe an answer: how many times Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible and how many times is it mentioned in the holy writings of other religions. I looked it up, and of course there is no comparison. Jerusalem is mentioned 677 times in the Bible and Zion is mentioned 173 times. Together, Jerusalem, Zion and the other names for Jerusalem are mentioned 850 times.

The reason I point this out is not because we do not respect the bond of other religions and cultures with Jerusalem that I already mentioned. On the contrary.

Jerusalem is mentioned 142 times in the New Testament, and it is not mentioned in the Koran - not one of Jerusalem's 16 names in Hebrew. However, in a later interpretation of the Koran dating to the 12th century; Jerusalem is mentioned in one passage. This is a fact. However, it does not change the simple fact that we respect the bond the Christians and Muslims have with Jerusalem, whatever its nature. It is only under Israel's sovereignty that this freedom of worship and freedom of accessibility to the holy places has been realized in an exemplary fashion, and we will continue to ensure these freedoms.

It is not my intention to detract from the bond other peoples have with Jerusalem. However, I am challenging the attempts to detract from, distort or erase our unique bond with Jerusalem.

I gave one example of the unique bond of the people of Israel with its capital, but you could no doubt give many more. The connection between the people of Zion and Zion itself is very powerful. We are not only fighting for the future of Jerusalem, its prosperity and all its residents, we are also fighting to preserve the memory of the past against those who seek to cloud it.

I ask all the members of Knesset for their support of the plan we are presenting in order to build the future of Jerusalem. I ask for the assistance of the members of Knesset, those willing to recognize the historic facts, to deepen and develop the special bond of the people of Israel with their capital. On this special day, Jerusalem Day, I ask you all to set rhetoric aside and repeat the words of the Prophet Isaiah: "Be glad with Jerusalem and rejoice in her, all you who love her," [Isaiah 66:10].

Thank you.