TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump corrected a “historic wrong” when he moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday in a speech that took Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to task for continuing to pay stipends to terrorists and their families.
“Look at our neighbors. Look at what President Abbas is doing. I mean, he’s rewarding terrorists. Pay for slay. The more they kill, the more they get paid. He has on his law books a rule, a law that says that if you sell land to Jews — you’ll be executed. Some peace and some coexistence,” Netanyahu told a group of 140 foreign journalists from 40 different countries in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu said: “The American Embassy is close by, is actually within walking distance and it’s a result of a bold and historic decision by President Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy here. I think he deserves tremendous applause for a tremendous act.”
“President Trump corrected an historic wrong,” he added. “The idea that we are not attached to Jerusalem is an unbelievable fiasco that you see at the UN institutions, resolutions, at UNESCO.”
“This attempt to falsify history vis-à-vis Jerusalem and vis-à-vis our connection to this land is a terrific injustice to the tribulation of the Jewish people that have made a journey that is unsurpassed by any other people,” he went on to say.
The prime minister noted that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian community has flourished. A notable exception is in areas under the Palestinian Authority, where the number of Christians is dwindling.
When Israel handed full control of the city that was Jesus’ birthplace, Bethlehem, to the Palestinian Authority, Christians constituted 80% of the population, he said. That number has since dwindled to 20%. The change, he asserted, “happened because in the Palestinian Authority areas, as well as throughout the Middle East, Christians are being constricted, they’re being pressured, also they’re being persecuted.”
“Without Israel radical Islam would overrun the Middle East easily, Israel not only protects itself but also protects the neighborhood,” Netanyahu declared.
Addressing the Iranian threat, Netanyahu said, “Iran wants to base itself right next to Israel in order to destroy Israel. They say so openly. We will not let them do so. We back up these words with actions, including now in these days, as we speak. Nothing has changed. We’ll continue to do what we need to do to protect ourselves and defend ourselves against those who would destroy us.”
“Several weeks ago the Iranians attempted to plan a terror attack against the regime in Paris,” he said, in reference to a failed bomb plot in the French capital. “Iran is organizing terror cells around the world. Iran views us as the small devil, Europe is the medium devil and the US is the big devil.”
“Iran has expanded its empire through countries such as Syria and Yemen. Don’t give Iran the tools to destroy us,” Netanyahu said, referring to Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis respectively.
The prime minister called on the assembled journalists to be “ambassadors of truth” and relay Israel’s story faithfully.
“People have to say the truth. You are ambassadors of truth. You’re not merely the greatest ambassadors that Israel has around the world. You’re champions of truth. And if there’s one thing that I can ask you to do is to tell the truth. Tell the truth about our history, tell the truth about our present, tell the truth about who wants peace and who doesn’t want peace,” he said.
When asked why American student Lara Alqasem was barred from entering the country over her alleged anti-Israel activities, he answered that every country has the right to decide who can enter it.
“Many democracies have special arrangements where they decide who to let in and who not to let in. If you come in and you are virulently against America and you try to come to the United States, there’s a good chance you won’t be let in if people know that in advance. That’s also true of many of the European democracies. It’s true of the democracy called Israel,” Netanyahu said.
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