Before I begin, I would like to refer to statements directed at me personally last week.  Now, I do not wish to harm any of you, and let me say ahead of time that some great talents were unveiled here, but there is no doubt that the most talented, the one who rose above all others, is our friend MK Eitan Cabel.  Eitan, you are more brilliant than Schectman; you are funnier than Seinfeld; you dribbled the ball towards the goal better than Maradona.  Now I must tell you that I have only one comment: I would not have chosen Messi.  As you saw, I would have chosen Maradona or Pele.  But in general, I think you were tremendous, and Eitan – let me say that I was the first to recognize the greatness of your talent.  Eitan, I tip my hat to you.  Well done.  MK Orbach, next time we will address you, but right now we are busy with self efforts.

Mr. Speaker, let me move on to more serious matters, truly serious issues – the instability of security in our region, the global economic earthquake and the social needs of the citizens of Israel.  Regarding the instability in our region, last month there were two new incidents that certainly may influence us: the results of the elections in Egypt and the new reality in Iraq.

The peace between Israel and Egypt is a strategic asset for both countries.  It has provided us with quiet on our western border for over 30 years.  I hope that any government elected in Egypt will recognize the value of maintaining the peace – its value in and of itself and its value to Egypt.  Regarding the terrorist organizations that think we will sit on our hands in the face of their attempts to harm us from the Sinai, they will discover, as they discovered last night, our firm hand.  In any event, within less than a year, we will complete the construction of the border fence along our common border with the Sinai.  This step is essential in stopping the penetration of terrorists into our territory and in stopping the flood of illegal labor infiltrators into our cities.

With regard to Iraq, the new situation created there may create challenges for the State of Israel to our east which we have not yet faced or dealt with for nearly 10 years.  This development certainly increases the importance of the peace between Israel and Jordan, which is also a strategic asset for both countries.

I point out these dramatic changes to our east and our west, as well as many other changes occurring around us: in Iran which continues to develop its nuclear armament; to Libya from which dangerous weapons are smuggled to our enemies.  I mention these dramatic changes because they obligate us to refresh our defense and strategic thinking, and Members of Knesset, we are doing this.  In the coming days, we will make decisions regarding the defense budget in order to provide a solution to the new challenges we face, but in such a way that the economy and society are not adversely affected.  This is not a simple challenge because the necessary balance between these needs is complex and difficult, but I believe it is possible.  I know that those who have no responsibilities at any given time have no problem.  When one does not bear responsibility, promises can always be strewn about without consideration and without limit.  However, we need to act differently and we are acting as a responsible government, and will continue to do so.

I believe that this responsibility is more necessary than ever in light of the recent developments in the global economic arena.  Many economies in Europe continue to wobble.  I do not believe there is anyone here who thinks that this crisis is over.  These economies have not escaped danger and it is not clear when they will recover.  In comparison, Israel's economy continues to grow; Israel's unemployment rate has reached its lowest level in decades, 5%.  I remember when the unemployment rate was more than twice that.  I remember when there were hundreds of thousands of unemployed Israelis with no possibility of supporting their families, which severely impacted the self-image of that same father or mother who could not feed their families.  The most serious social problem – and by the way, unemployment is an extremely serious social problem, but the most serious social problem was not how to make ends meet at the end of the month, but rather how to make ends meet at the beginning of the month.  It is good that we are no longer at that stage, and that the unemployment rate in Israel is significantly lower than that of the United States and Euro bloc countries, Britain, Scandinavia and Australia.  Even if the Bank of Israel forecast will materialize and unemployment increases from 5% to more than 6%, this is still a figure considerably lower than that of leading global economies.

Members of Knesset, let me emphasize two points.  Firstly, we are in this situation precisely because, unlike other countries, we acted with the aforementioned responsibility and did not waste money without thought.  Secondly, with all our success, we still face difficult economic challenges because right now we are witnessing a unique combination of regional upheaval the likes of which we have not experienced in 90 years and a global economic upheaval unprecedented in the past 80 years.

This combination of both global crises at the same time creates a built-in tension between the government's security responsibility and its economic responsibility.  The security needs obligate us to consider a significant increase in the defense budget, while the economic needs obligate budgetary restraint in all areas.  We will need to find the proper balance between the two in order to maintain the security of the citizens of Israel while at the same time, safeguarding Israel's economy.  Obviously if the economy collapses then security collapses as well.  There is no security without the economy, and security costs a great deal of money.  To add even more to this equation, we must also deal with various social needs – and we will do so.

Mr. Speaker, I heard that there are some people here who hurried to eulogize the Trajtenberg Report and eulogies in this place are not a good thing.  You must remember at least one incident.  So I suggest no one make any eulogy.  Members of the opposition – I suggest you do not eulogize the Trajtenberg Report.  And I suggest that you first learn the facts.  We are approving the Trajtenberg Report in the government section by section.  We approved the taxation section; we approved the competitiveness and cost of living section; we approved the clauses regarding streamlining and improving government regulation.  I can tell you that the discussion is a genuine one, not just a blind vote.  People come, read, study, discuss and in the end, decide.  In four days, starting January 1, an important amendment will take effect – working fathers with one child under the age of three will enjoy an additional net NIS 418 in the monthly paycheck.  For fathers with two children under the age of three, the amount will double to NIS 836 and for every additional child under the age of three, there will be an addition of NIS 418.  Furthermore, as part of the tax reform we approved earlier, working mothers with a child under the age of five will receive an additional tax credit compared with what they receive today.  In other words, they will receive an additional net NIS 209 for each child.  This is a benefit that will help hundreds of thousands of parents who work and pay taxes.  If you like, I can check the precise figure and tell you at our next session.  I said this is not the only benefit – on Sunday we will reduce the sales tax on hundreds of electrical appliances.  More accurately, we already reduced them, but it will take effect on Sunday.  We eliminated the planned tax on gasoline.  We eliminated the customs tax on internet purchases up to the amount of NIS 1,200.  And there are two big things yet to come: one is the section on housing, we have not given up on it; and the second, which you have no doubt heard eulogized as all the eulogies focused primarily on the second important section we are going to discuss and approve, and that is education.

So as you can see, Members of Knesset, the security and economic situation has become more and more complex, and I believe the best way to deal with this situation is to unite around the main issues – and I believe there are many – that bring us together.  Because there is very broad consensus among the people with regard to the main issues that we face.

Last night we held the Bible Quiz for adults.  One of the members of Knesset asked me where I was last night.  Last night I was at the Bible Quiz for adults, an event that stopped 30 years ago and we reinstated.  I awarded the first prize to Shmuel Amrasi.  Shmuel is a resident of Elad and grew up in Safed.  He is the father of seven and a teacher of music and Gmara.  The first runner up, to whom I also awarded a prize, together with the Minister of Education, is Lior Meir.  Lior is the mother of four, a secular woman from Holon, a businesswoman, and MK Shai is telling me that she is also a basketball player.  She started seriously studying the Bible ten years ago, and since then she has excelled in her studies.  I stood there with these two winners, a winning combination of a man and a woman, religious and secular, scientist and businesswoman, and they were united by the unique heritage of our people.  I firmly believe, and I am not just paying lip service to the idea, that this is our real strength, that through this unity, this cohesiveness, we can better deal with all the internal and external challenges that threaten us.

I also think that through it we can deal with the internal threats we face from fringe groups in our society.  A week ago, I visited Hativat Efraim.  It was important to me to meet the brigade commander and assistant commander who were injured by unbridled lawbreakers.  MK Orbach, I am not disparaging what happened there, it is not just a one-time incident, it is a very serious matter.  We cannot accept the injuring of IDF soldiers or officers of the Israel Police.  I instructed the security forces in the field to act determinedly against this disgraceful phenomenon.  I compliment the IDF soldiers and police officers who work day and night to stop this group.  It is indeed small, but it is dangerous and it stains an entire public of faithful, law-abiding people who serve in the army and do a great deal for Israel's security.  I heard the heads of the communities in Judea and Samaria speak out against and condemn this phenomenon and I appreciate that.  We will stop the extremists, we will bring them to justice and we will not accept them harming Jews or Arabs or mosques.

Let me now address an issue that was brought up here today and that is the illegitimate actions taken by an extremist group in Bet Shemesh.  In the State of Israel, we will not accept women being spit on in the street just because their manner of dress does not seem appropriate to someone, or for any reason.  I gave instructions to act against anyone who harasses women or any people in the public sphere.  There are laws, as was correctly pointed out, regarding the protection of rights in other spheres, but first and foremost, we are discussing the public sphere.  Part of Israel's being a Western, liberal democracy is that its public sphere is open and safe for everyone, and it will be so.

I also think that in this case we have to be careful not to generalize and include an entire population, because the vast majority of the ultra-Orthodox population combines the upholding of the halacha with upholding the law.  I welcome the fact that important rabbis and prominent leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community, including my partners here in the Knesset and the government, strongly condemned these immoral acts.  There are a number of ultra-Orthodox ministers and members of Knesset in the coalition from all the parties represented in the government who have themselves been the victims of a physical and violent attack, and that is why the attempt to include them and the entire ultra-Orthodox community in a violent, law-breaking, unrestrained fringe group, and the attempt to paint them as such is irresponsible.  The leaders who are here and other leaders who have spoken out against these groups are acting responsibly.  Those who say that these fringes reflect broad sections of a public blacken an entire country and entire populations.  That is why, rather than engaging in goading that promotes injustice in the State of Israel, it would be better if people united around the broad basis of national agreement that exists among the people to eradicate these phenomena.  That is what the people of Israel expect a responsible leadership to do, and that is what we are doing.  And that, members of the opposition, is what you should be doing.