TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made chicken arms as he walked into the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday in honor of Netta Barzilai’s victory at the Eurovision song contest the night before. He also opened his remarks by saying “Boker TOY,” a play on the Hebrew phrase for “good morning,” using the name of Barzilai’s song.
“These days Jerusalem is being blessed with many gifts. We received another one last night with Netta’s thrilling and suspenseful victory. The gift is that Eurovision will come to Jerusalem next year; we will be very proud to host it,” the prime minister said.
“I think that we will deal with everything involved in order to enable another major event with a large international audience to be held in our city, in our country,” he added.
Barzilai’s win has been dubbed a major setback for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which has been active across social media platforms in the weeks leading up to Eurovision, calling for the voting public to refrain from voting for the Israeli singer.
The tag #BDSFail trended on Twitter Sunday morning.
In his comments at the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also mentioned the U.S. embassy move, which prompted the transfer of two more embassies – those of Paraguay and Guatemala – this week, calling it a “truly historical event.”
“This week we will be blessed with a truly historical event and this is the decision of the greatest major power in the world, our friend the United States, to move its embassy here,” he said.
President Donald Trump “promised to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – and did so. He promised to move the American embassy – and is doing so,” he added.
“Of course we will all celebrate this day tomorrow, it is truly a celebration. Afterwards two additional embassies – Guatemala and Paraguay – will come here and others are on the way,” he said.
The prime minister also noted the celebrations taking place Sunday at the Bible Museum to mark Jerusalem Day.
“Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible approximately 650 times. The reason is simple: For over 3,000 years it has been the capital of our people, and only of our people. We dreamed of returning to rebuild it, the city that is joined together – this is exactly what we are doing today,” he said.
He added that Jerusalem would be developed and expanded “in all directions” in order “to reveal its past and build its future.”
“I know that there will be difficulties along the way; there have been difficulties for the past 70 years. We have met them since 1949 and up to recent years. We will also meet them in the future,” the prime minister said.
“Jerusalem above and Jerusalem below, we are bound to this city. It is part of our soul, part of our experience, on both our material and spiritual sides,” Netanyahu added.
“I am certain that all ministers feel as I do regarding the major events that are currently taking place. We are honoring the words of the prophet [Joel 4:20], ‘But Judah shall be inhabited forever and Jerusalem from generation to generation.'”
“Happy holiday, Jerusalem,” he concluded.