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Thank you very much.
Tony Gelbart, Rabbi Fass, Members of Knesset,
The Director of the Ministry of Absorption, Mr. Erez Halfon,
Eli Cohen from the Jewish Agency,
Prof. Borovich,
And most important, wonderful new Israelis who came from the United States of America,
Welcome to the State of Israel!
I want to tell you something. You came from a great country to the greatest country in the world. I’m sure that some of your families over there who didn’t join you, your parents, your elders, told you: what the hec? Why do you have to go to the place which is known to be the most threatened, the most difficult, the most dangerous place in the world? Why do you have to risk living in a place such as Israel when you can live in America, which is so friendly and so hospitable and so rich and provides Jews with such opportunities? And I can say this to you: it’s true we have dangers, it’s true there are threats, it’s true there are difficulties, it’s true we have enemies, around us, some of us, at a distance that don’t like Israel and they will do everything that they can to harm the State of Israel. The difference between Israel and any other place is that this is not the safest place for Jews, because sometimes Jews are killed in the course of confrontations with terrorists, as we have experienced over the last years, but Israel is the only place on earth where Jews can fight for their lives as Jews and they don’t have to be getting permission from anyone to fight as Jews for their life and for their country, and this is a great privilege that we didn’t have for thousands of years, we have it now. And our enemies know it, and our enemies are aware of the enormous abilities and strength that we have to protect ourselves, to fight for ourselves and to make sure that the State of Israel will live forever as a Jewish state in the Land of Israel.
Yesterday we had a Cabinet session and normally in a Cabinet session, when I start I have a little statement to give in front of the cameras, and yesterday I did something quite unusual. I quoted a British economic magazine, well-known, perhaps you know it, The Economist, known as perhaps the best economic magazine in the whole world, and you know what The Economist wrote? The Economist wrote that the economy of Israel is the most successful economy in the world. I know it sounds strange, you guys come from America. What you don’t know is that America is not there, America is here, and I’m not kidding, I’m not kidding. The Israeli economy is thriving, the growth of the Israeli economy has gone over 5 percent annually for the last five years and is doing very well over five years this year, which is much higher than any economy in the western world.
I know you all not come because of the economic prospects. There is still an image that in the western countries, and particularly in America, people can make it much better and much greater than in the state of Israel, and it may be on the average true. But I’ll tell you something, Israel is not the desert that your parents, when they were your age, heard about. Israel is a modern country, it’s one of the most sophisticated countries in the world, is one of the most innovative countries in the world, is one of the countries which are leading the world in hi-technologies which are changing the nature of life of many people across the world. Many things that you use on a daily basis, in almost every corner of the world, are produced in the State of Israel, are created in the State of Israel, are innovated in the State of Israel and are exported to every corner of the world and have made Israel a country with a positive surplus, which was the dream of the people of Israel for so many years and which was realized in the last few years, for the benefit of the people of Israel. So don’t get it wrong, I know there is always a dramatic change in the life of the person, to leave a country that you were born in, that you got used to, that you are familiar with everything, and suddenly you come to a new country, and Eli Cohen said before: we love olim. The truth is that, I’ll tell you what, we love Aliyah! We are not always capable of showing how much we love olim. It is true, we love olim, but in spite of the fact that we know that we love olim, it takes time for the olim to feel what we feel about them, and I urge you that you will not be discouraged by the difficulties, the bureaucracy, the time that it takes, the difficulties that you’ll have to go through in different agencies of the Government and the public services. At the end of the day, you’ll find what we know, that we love you, that we are happy that you arrived, that there is nothing that can strengthen the State of Israel more than new olim.
And I’ll tell you something. I deal with your country and I deal with your leaders and most frequently I come to them and I ask for all kinds of things which are important for the build up of the State of Israel and for the defense of the State of Israel and the protection of its citizens, and these are matters which we don’t normally talk about in details, but you can imagine, these are important instruments that are essential for the ability of the State of Israel to protect itself and to face all its enemies, north and south and east under any circumstance, and I’m absolutely confident, don’t get it wrong, I am absolutely confident that in whatever situation that we will be faced with, Israel will have the power to defend itself against all its enemies from north and south and east and will protect the people of Israel.
Weapons are important, the greatest weapon we have, the most efficient, the most effective, the most powerful, the most influential, the most promising, with the greatest potential, are you, the people of Israel, are us, the people of Israel, and with the addition of the people that come from the United States of American and from many other parts of the world, there is no power in the world that can compete with the people of Israel! The greatest advantage that we have is the quality of our people. This is the essence, this is the basis, this is the source of our strength, of our potential and of our future.
But I’ll tell you something, singles or families, we love you all, we are so happy to have you here, we are so proud that you understood something that I believe, I genuinely believe, that Rabbi Fass and Tony Gelbart will be able to explain to many thousands of Americans, that there are many places for Jews, many good places for Jews, many wonderful places for Jews to live in, America is definitely one of them, is the greatest friend of Israel. There is no country which is friendlier, which is more supportive, which is more helpful to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel than the United States of America, but there is one home for the Jewish people and this home is here and you guys came to live in your home, and your home opened its arms, with all our hearts, with all our love, with all our enthusiasm, with all our excitement, and we tell you: thank G-d you are here, thank G-d you have reached this conclusion, thank G-d that we have people like Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart and many others and the Members of Knesset who are so helpful and so dedicated and so devoted and so involved in trying to convince all of you to come, and I hope that when you come, you’ll give the signal to many thousands that are waiting to see how happy you are here. So don’t hesitate, even if you are not always completely confident about it, tell them that you are happy so that they will come also and when they come, Israel will be stronger, you will be happier, we will be joyful and the State of Israel will thrive and develop and flourish and be strengthened and will be qualified to make sure that the quality of life of all the people living here is just as good as it was in other places, and in most cases, I’m sure will be better.
Thank you very much, G-d bless your old country, G-d bless America, but most importantly, G-d bless Israel!
PM welcomed at Ben-Gurion Airport new immigrantswhose arrival was assisted by Nefesh B'Nefesh
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