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Ben-Gurion was a man who embodied the rare combination of visionary and pragmatist. He was a great dreamer, but in the same measure, he was a practical and reasonable man. He brought together the act of establishing the country and the vision the Jewish people held for generations. As a history buff and dedicated Torah scholar, Ben-Gurion saw our people’s heritage as an inalienable asset, an asset that we all shared – religious and secular alike.
I recall the famous Bible study class he established. I learned that my father-in-law, Shmuel Ben-Artzi of blessed memory, who was a writer and Bible teacher his whole life, played an active role in that class. When Ben-Gurion reached the age of 80, Shmuel travelled to Sde Boker, here, with his family, including my wife, who at the time was a young child. They came to celebrate the birthday of the former Prime Minister with Ben-Gurion and the other members of the class.
Ben-Gurion understood that the Book of Books is our mandate for our country, as he said in that same unforgettable statement before the Peel Commission in 1936. He viewed the Bible as the wondrous story of the Jewish people, the unique spiritual, cultural and historic heritage of our people, and also as one of the cornerstones of all of human culture.
Ben-Gurion believed that every boy and girl in Israel must learn the Bible; they must be familiar with it and draw inspiration from it – from its cultural, linguistic and spiritual treasures. He was a devotee of the Bible and the Hebrew language, but not at the expense of general and scientific studies. This combination of our unique culture and human culture in general guides us today as we enact sweeping reforms in the education system and in our rehabilitation of higher education – education in Zionism and excellence, with a renewed emphasis on Bible studies and the heritage program that the Government launched.
In the framework of this program, the Government today passed a resolution to preserve Ben-Gurion’s shack. I consider this site a shining example to our generation, and primarily I consider it a directive left for us by Ben-Gurion – to develop the Negev, the largest section of the country which is still sparsely populated. We are changing this as well.
The Negev that Ben-Gurion dreamt so much of developing is today developing at a dizzying pace. We are paving highways, upgrading and laying out new train tracks to the south. These tracks will eventually reach Eilat. After years of discussions and good intentions, we are transferring major IDF bases to the Negev. The communities in the region are experiencing a construction boom and increased demand for housing.
In Israel’s 63rd year of existence, we finally passed a resolution to regularize the issue of the settlement of our Bedouin citizens in the Negev, and have invested in a project to nurture their education, welfare and employment. I would like the Bedouin to be an integral part of the Negev’s expected forward momentum in the coming years.
Alongside these positive developments, we are witnessing new security challenges resulting from the tremendous shocks rocking the peoples of the Middle East. We are acting vigorously to complete the security fence along our border with Egypt in the next year. Last year I decided on the erection of the fence to deal with the wave of illegal infiltrators looking for work. I attributed tremendous economic and social importance to stopping this wave, but today the fence has additional importance – security importance in light of the increasing instability in Sinai.
It was just months ago that we suffered a serious terror attack at the Sinai border, and since then, there have been additional attempts to attack Israel along its southern border. We will work more intensely to provide a security solution to the residents and communities in the south, much like in the rest of the country. We hope that any government formed in Egypt will recognize the importance of maintaining the peace accords with Israel, both in and of themselves, but also as a foundation for the security and economic stability of the region.
During these stormy times, let us remember the key to Israel’s future and its ability to live in peace with its neighbors: the strength of the IDF, our economic and technological strength, alongside our belief in our heritage and the spiritual power of a people determined to defend its land and country and to maintain lives of freedom and creation. We live in changing, challenging times and in such times, we can learn a great deal from Ben-Gurion’s legacy.
First and foremost, we must learn from his commitment to the future of the State of Israel, from his willingness to make the difficult decision necessary to ensure that future. There is no doubt that the moment that tested Ben-Gurion the most was the decision to establish the country. Anyone who grew up after that moment tends to believe that it was a natural development, that the declaration of the State was obvious, but that is not so; far from it. Both domestically and abroad, within the Jewish community in Israel and across the world, tremendous pressures were exerted on Ben-Gurion not to take this step. Everyone told him: this is not the time; not now. Among those pressuring him were important statesmen, as well as friends and loyal representatives of the Jewish community in Israel and the Zionist movement. They warned Ben-Gurion that declaring the establishment of the State would lead to an invasion by Arab armies into the nascent Jewish state and to a bitter and difficult campaign.
Ben-Gurion did not ignore these warnings. He well understood that there would be a heavy cost to this decision, but he believed that the cost would be even heavier if he did not make the decision. We are all here today because Ben-Gurion made the right decision at the right time. He considered and debated for some time, but at the end of the day, he was ready to make difficult decisions for the future of our people.
Today we all agree that it was a reasonable, proper and responsible decision, but it must be remembered that Ben-Gurion had difficulty – even great difficulty – passing the resolution in the People’s Administration, the government at the time, to establish the State. The result of the voting was six in favor, four against. Imagine what would have happened if one vote had switched from those in favor to those against. If Ben-Gurion had not been determined enough, if he had missed the moment, who knows what would have happened to our people and our country.
In this place, where the great leader who declared the establishment of the State and called it “Israel” is interred, I would like to believe that we will always act with discretion, courage and determination to make the right decisions to ensure our future and our security.
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