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Honorable President of the State, Mr. Shimon Peres,
Madam Speaker of the Knesset, Ms. Dalia Itzik,
Madam Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Dorit Beinish,
Honorable Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yona Metzger,
Honorable Mayor of Jerusalem, Mr. Uri Lupolianski,
My Colleagues, Ministers of Israel and Members of Knesset,
Honorable Chairman of the Directorate of the Zionist Federation and the Jewish Agency, Mr. Ze’ev Bielski,
Chief of General Staff of the IDF, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi,
Commissioner of the Israel Police, Commissioner Dudi Cohen,
The Schrier Family, who is dear to my heart, Yaffa and Ami, the parents of the late Yiftach, who fell during the Second Lebanon War,
Dear Bereaved Families,
Distinguished Guests,
The ground on which we are standing, the Jerusalem ground, was liberated with the souls of fighters. This fortified hill, furrowed with trenches, ditches and bunkers – silent witnesses to the heroic battle waged here forty years ago – then divided Hebrew Jerusalem from that which lay beyond. The fate of this enclave of Mount Scopus – a stone’s throw from here, just beyond the bridge of fire – was dependent on swiftly being connected to it.
This was the mission of the Paratroopers on the night of the battle, at the end of which the dawn broke over a hill of smoke, saturated in blood and grief, and a new entry to glory was inscribed on the parchment of this city and its wars: “Ammunition Hill”.
The blood soaked into the clods of dirt at our feet – the blood of our fallen heroes as well as the blood of the fighters of the Jordanian Army. On both sides, young lives were lost before their time. The deaths on both sides left behind sorrow and grief. Today, 41 years since the Six Day War, it is time, after a great delay, to finally close the chapters of war and write a new book for Jerusalem, with its title taken from the prophecy of Isaiah, which was heard in this city 2,700 years ago and which still resonates: “How pleasant are the footsteps of the herald upon the mountains announcing peace, heralding good tidings…”
However, the realization of this prophecy is currently blocked by forces of darkness. Sons of darkness, full of twisted faith, radicalism and blind in the fanaticism of those who knowingly choose the path of terror and blood in order to impose their dark existence on all of us. While we try to create a horizon of peace, hope and light, the sons of darkness are occupied with schemes of indiscriminate killing. While we turn to the other side with our hand outstretched to shake hands, they squeeze the trigger.
The firing of Qassam missiles towards the Gaza Envelope communities and the city of Sderot is intolerable and unforgivable. The sons of darkness will not be exonerated of this.
I say to the residents of Sderot and the Gaza Envelope: my heart and thoughts are with you. You pay the ongoing price which effects your way of life, primarily that of your children. The hour of decision is approaching, after which you too will have the longed-for quiet. The threat towards you will also be removed, one way or another.
I said in the past that I prefer the path of dialogue, and indeed the Government I lead is attempting to reach a truce in this manner, but as long as all the measured steps we take do not lead to the hoped-for calm, we will also be forced to turn to the sword.
In the hopes of avoiding this turning to the sword, we will all remember that the glory of Jerusalem, like our glory as a people, is not in wars. The glory of Jerusalem is in the heralding of peace, “nation shall not lift sword against nation”; in the heralding of justice, morality and the hope that ensued and shaped the values of the enlightened world.
Jerusalem has known many wars, too many – as have we – but its hoped-for eternal destiny remains “the whole city”, the city of peace. This great challenge is still before us.
I believe there is no contradiction between the people of Israel’s total allegiance to Jerusalem and its unity and our ambitions to create peace within it. Jerusalem is a city of many peoples. We respect all believers, preserve their holy places and are wholly committed to freedom of religion, religious worship and conscience for all residents, visitors and lovers of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people, the axis of identity, faith and history of our people for generations. Three times a day for thousands of years, believing Jews turn their faces towards Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. The power of the emotions, and the expectation of Jerusalem which throbs in the hearts of Jews in the Diaspora – the passion of their yearning, the depth of their love and the sanctity of their prayers – they are unequaled, and secular words cannot describe them, only the language of the prophets and the poets can express them:
“If I forget thee,” swore the Levites to Jerusalem, who hung their lyres on the willows of the rivers of Babylon; “Zion, thou art anxious for news of thy captives” cried Rabbi Yehuda Halevi to Jerusalem in “Jerusalem Exile Which Is In Spain”; “If there was permission I would go up and join with it within the gates of Zion which are praised,” prayed Rabbi Shalom Shabazi in his painful exile in Yemen; and Uri Zvi Greenberg wrote, “There is one truth and not two, as there is one sun and as there are not two Jerusalems”.
Forty-one years ago, in a war that was forced upon us, Jerusalem was liberated and united. Nearly 3,000 years after David and Solomon sanctified it as the capital of Israel and the city of the Temple, and nearly 1,900 years after it fell and was torn from us during the destruction of the Second Temple, Jerusalem – with Israel’s holy places contained within it – returned to the bosom of the Jewish people, who yearned and dreamed and prayed to it in endless longing. It was returned and cannot be undone.
The eternal Jewish love for and commitment to Jerusalem, which are deeper and stronger than any other, stood behind the decisions of the Israeli Government and Knesset to unify the city 41 years ago, with the support of the entire nation. They ensure Israeli sovereignty in historic and sacred Jerusalem forever.
On a personal note, if I may:
I was privileged – and there is no greater privilege – to be elected twice by the dear residents of Jerusalem to serve as mayor of the united city for a decade and to add another layer to its construction. The variety of human and earthly landscapes, the whiteness of its stones and the light of the sky of Jerusalem fill me.
Each and all of its well-known and hidden sites, every street, every neighborhood, every path, every garden and alley, every school and community center and kindergarten are clear in my mind and close to my heart. With great love and sincere humility towards the greatness of Jerusalem, I am a “violin for its songs”. Jerusalem is in my soul forever.
Today, on Jerusalem Day, we remember with respect and gratitude the fighters who fell in the battles of the War of Independence and the Six Day War. We will remember the fallen in the campaigns of Judea and Samaria, in the Sinai and the Golan, who bequeathed the State of Israel its greatest victory.
We will also remember those who were murdered in terrorist attacks in the city of Jerusalem, which has known difficult periods of suicide terror, attacks, hatred and blind fanaticism.
We honor the leaders of the nation, headed by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, and the commanders, under the leadership of then-Chief of General Staff Yitzhak Rabin. We will now bow our heads in memory of the fighters who fell here at Ammunition Hill and “the dawn of Jerusalem in their waxy faces” (in the words of Uri Zvi Greenberg).
May the memories of the fighters be blessed, and to you – dear bereaved families – I say from the bottom of my heart, as is customary in Israel: “May this place comfort you – and may you be consoled in Jerusalem”.
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