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Address by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the Memorial Service for Victims of Terror Attacks / Translation |
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| 26/04/2004 |
Dear Families,
Today we cherish the sacred memory of our sisters and brothers who fell victim to terrorist attacks, precious citizens including infants, elderly citizens, women and children needless victims of cruel and wicked terror, which is godless and inhuman.
We, the Jewish people, are waging war against villains and against hatred of Israel which has not ceased to simmer throughout history. Only its mask keeps changing it is either religious, nationalist, anti-Zionist or other and at times, all of them together. It has only one goal: to abandon Jews and the citizens of the State of Israel, and to deny the Jewish people's right to freedom and a homeland. In the impure name of a burning, blind and uninhibited hatred, brainwashed and hate-filled youths are sent to end their lives while indiscriminately slaying passersby, passengers on public transportation, teenagers at places of entertainment, working people, families innocently having lunch, babies in their mothers arms.
For generations the Jewish people were persecuted, exposed, vulnerable and dependent on the kindness of strangers. Jews were murdered, and had no protector or redeemer. The establishment of the State of Israel did not erase hatred of Israel from the world. However, it has brought an end to Jewish helplessness in the face of murderers. Jews are no longer abandoned, and whoever harms them will not be spared.
We must always remember that Israel, a small country with talent, is the only place in the world where Jews have the right and the strength to defend themselves by themselves. And this we must hold onto and never give up.
Our enemies and the entire world are today aware that whoever raises a hand against a Jew or an Israeli citizen, whoever incites and dispatches murderers, whoever is involved in any form of terrorist activity against us, will not escape punishment or be invulnerable. We will find them and they will be judged severely.
As long as our enemies continue their strategy of terror, we will collect heavy security and political price for it. They have already begun to realize that we changed the rules of the game. Their present policy will lead them to continue losing assets and leave their national claims unrealized.
All we desire is security and peace for our citizens, our people and our land. Those who wish to take our lives will be pursued with all our might, but whoever truly seeks peace and coexistence will find our hand extended and will discover our sincere desire to compromise while making painful concessions, in order to jointly build a better future for us and all the peoples of this region.
Dear Families,
I wish I could comfort you and allay your sorrows a little, but I know that words do not have the power to redeem.
There is no cure for this terrible pain.
Therefore, I will join you in prayer, for the cure for heartbreak and a balm for your sorrows will heal your wounds, and you will no longer languish.
May the souls of the victims of terrorist attacks be forever bound to Israel.
The speech is attached in Hebrew and Russian(Translation).
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