In the final status arrangement, the Palestinians will have all the
authority needed to govern themselves, except those which threaten the
existence and security of the State of Israel.

Translation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Speech at the Knesset Swearing-In
Ceremony
March 31, 2009

As the poet in Psalms wrote: "Lord, my heart was not proud, and my eyes were
not haughty, nor did I pursue matters too great and too wondrous for me."

Members of Knesset,

It is not with the elation of the victorious that I stand before you today,
but rather with a feeling of heavy responsibility. However, these are not
ordinary days. I ask for your trust at a time of global crises, the likes of
which have not been seen in years. I speak out of a feeling of concern, but
also of hope and faith, and mostly in recognition of the seriousness of this
challenging hour. For Israel faces two enormous challenges: the economic
challenge and the security challenge. These result from dramatic
international developments; huge thunderstorms are raging around us. It is
not our actions or failures of the past that are the root of these crises,
but our actions and decisions in the near future that will determine if we
will prevail. On this day I would like to express my full confidence that
the people of Israel will be able to successfully deal with the challenges
we face. The State of Israel was established during its most difficult hour,
an hour during which the words of the Declaration of Independence echoed in
our ears: "The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here
their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they
first attained statehood, created cultural values of national and universal
significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being
forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout
their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to its
land and for the restoration in it of their political freedom."

Members of Knesset,

There is no more wondrous a journey in history than that of the Jewish
people. There is no struggle more just than its struggle to return to its
homeland and build a life here as a free and sovereign nation. There is no
question mark, not about the right, not about the justice and not about the
existence of the people of Israel and its country. There is no question
mark, and we will not allow anyone or any country to raise a question mark
over our existence. The 20th century proved that the future of the Jewish
people is dependent on the future of the State of Israel, and therefore it
is our duty to do all that is necessary to ensure the security, strength and
prosperity of our country. It is within our power to do so and overcome any
obstacle or impediment as long as our will is steadfast and as long as we
are united, and it was my sincere and stated aspiration to establish a
government at this difficult time that would unite all the centrist forces
among our people. I saw this as the order of the day and invested ongoing
and consistent efforts to achieving this goal. I am pleased that the Labor
Party, a movement with deep roots and of great contributions to the history
of Zionism and settlement, eventually made the responsible decision for the
good of the country to join hands with the Likud Movement and our other
partners.

I wish to express appreciation to the members of this house who understood
the enormous responsibility we are facing, and took the decision, not
without hesitation, to extend a hand and provide support for the unity
government.

Members of Knesset,

The security crisis we are facing originates from the rise and spread of
radical Islam in our region and in other parts of the world. The greatest
threat to humanity, and to the State of Israel, stems from the possibility
that a radical regime will be armed with nuclear weapons or that nuclear
weapons will find a home in a radical regime. I wish to distinguish
fundamentalist Islam from the overall Muslim and Arab world, which is also
threatened by the extremists. The Islamic culture is a great, rich culture,
with many connections to the history of our people as well, and we have
known periods of cooperation; of Jews and Arabs living together and creating
together. Today, more than ever, Israel strives to achieve full peace with
all the Arab and Muslim world. Today, this ambition is also backed by a
shared interest of Israel and the Arab world that are facing a wave of
fanaticism which threatens us all. While we may not be the only ones
threatened by radical Islam, we are first and foremost threatened by it. It
is true that it strives to eradicate all the Arab regimes and bring all
Muslims in the world under an autocratic, narrow-minded, reactionary regime.
It is also true that it threatens governments in the West and in the East
with terrorism and deadly missiles. However, all its different
manifestations share one common objective - to wipe the State of Israel off
the face of the earth.

It is a mark of disgrace for humanity that several decades after the
Holocaust the world's response to the calls by Iran's leader to destroy the
State of Israel is weak, there is no firm condemnation and decisive
measures - almost as if dismissed as routine. However, the Jewish people
have learnt their lesson. We cannot afford to take lightly megalomaniac
tyrants who threaten to annihilate us. Contrary to the terrible trauma we
experienced during the last century when we stood helpless and stateless,
today we are not defenseless. We have a state, and we know how to defend it.
It was the concern for our national security that was the first and main
reason that my friends and I strove to achieve national unity at this time.
Terrorists from radical Islam now threaten us from both the North and the
South. We are determined to curb terrorism from all directions and fight
against it with all our might. Those who want peace must fight terror.
However, in order for there to be peace, the Palestinian partner must also
fight terror, educate its children towards peace and prepare its people for
recognizing Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people. Over the
past two decades, six Israeli prime ministers failed to achieve peace, and
through no fault of their own. To the leaders of the Palestinian Authority,
I say: if you truly want peace, peace can be obtained.

My Government will act vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority to achieve peace
on three parallel tracks: economic, security and political. We strive to
assist with the accelerated development of the Palestinian economy and in
developing its economic ties with Israel. We will support a Palestinian
security mechanism that will fight terror, and we will conduct ongoing peace
negotiations with the PA, with the aim of reaching a final status
arrangement. We have no desire to control another people; we have no wish to
rule over the Palestinians. In the final status arrangement, the
Palestinians will have all the authority needed to govern themselves, except
those which threaten the existence and security of the State of Israel. This
track - combining the economic, security and political - is the right way to
achieve peace. All previous attempts to make shortcuts have achieved the
opposite outcome and resulted in increased terror and greater bloodshed. We
choose a realistic path, positive in approach and with a genuine desire to
bring an end to the conflict between us and our neighbors.

With regard to the global economic crisis, it is indeed of an unprecedented
scope. It affects each and every one of us and it threatens the livelihood
of thousands of Israelis. We do not yet know how and when it will end, but I
am convinced of one thing: the Israeli economy has clear advantages that
enable it to confront the crisis better than other economies. Our primary
advantages are entrepreneurship and innovation, coupled with the ability to
adjust rapidly. In this case, the fact that we are a small state is an
advantage that will enable us to extricate ourselves quickly from the
crisis. It is the reverse of having a quantitative advantage. The Israeli
economy can be likened to a small racing boat sailing among large ships. It
is easier to change the direction of a quick racing boat than that of a
large ship. I intend to personally lead this change of direction. I will be
the one to navigate Israel's economic strategy. My Government assumes the
responsibility of protecting - to the best of our ability - employment,
solving the credit crisis and maintaining a responsible macro-economic
policy. These are not three contradictory objectives, although there is some
measure of friction between them. The three of them can be obtained through
cooperation and dialogue between all the central economic forces - the
Government, the Labor Federation, the employers and social organizations -
the driving force behind all of us being the good of the country. Now, more
than ever, we will open our hearts to the unemployed, the elderly and the
weak. We must see before us the worker who was laid off on the eve of
Passover, whose livelihood is destroyed, and the thought of how he will
support his family torments him. The need to address the economic and social
crisis is the second reason that prompted me and my friends to strive to
achieve national unity.

There are additional challenges that our government will place at the top of
its list of priorities. It is time to carry out a real revolution in
education. We are the People of the Book. From the "Heder" students to Nobel
Prize laureates, no nation has contributed more, relative to its size, to
human knowledge and civilization. We cannot accept that our children will
not be amongst the world's leading students. Therefore, the goal we are
setting today is to bring the children of Israel back to the world's ten
leading countries in international tests, within a decade.

Alongside with excellence, we will also bring Zionism back. We will teach
our children the eternal values of the people of Israel, and forge values of
Jewish and Israeli culture in our country's spiritual kaleidoscope.

We will also generate a fundamental change in public safety. It was the
Jewish people who bequeathed to the world the Commandments: thou shalt not
steal, and thou shalt not kill. Even when we were scattered in exile, we
maintained a high level of morality between man and man and between an
individual and the community. It is therefore inconceivable that when we
returned to being a free, sovereign nation in our homeland, crime
organizations and criminal syndicates are emerging among us, dealing in
theft, murder and trafficking in women, and fighting against each other with
guns in the streets of our cities. It is intolerable that parents in Israel
should be afraid to send their children to school or to the beach. We must
put a stop to this. We will stiffen the penalties against criminals, advance
important reforms in the police force and strengthen the Israel Police in
its battle against crime.

At the beginning of my speech, I mentioned the opening section of the
Declaration of Independence. I am committed to the Declaration as a whole,
including the promise for complete equality between all the citizens of the
State, regardless of religion, race or gender. Our concern will be for all
the citizens of Israel: Jews, Arabs, Druze, Muslims, Christians and
Circassians.

To the Arab citizens of Israel I wish to say: you will find in me a loyal
partner to your integration into Israel's society and economy. I believe in
this aim, and I will act in this direction.

This is a time of crisis. Our government system is unsuitable to meet the
challenges of today. The large size of the Government presented to you today
reflects the necessity for national unity at this time, but it also reflects
a certain deficiency in the existing government system - a deficiency that
can be corrected, and will be corrected.

At the same time, the Government that will be leading Israel in the years to
come, is expecting neither pleasures nor luxury. On our shoulders rests an
enormous, overwhelming responsibility, and a duty to make decisions, with
clarity of mind and purpose, on those issues that will determine the fate of
Israel.

I would like to thank the outgoing Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, for his
service to the nation. When you were only just elected, Ehud, I told you
that very soon you would discover what difficulties and responsibilities
were placed on your shoulders. Indeed, you discovered them. At numerous
important crossroads of which the public are still not fully aware, you
worked to strengthen Israel's security and made brave decisions. Ehud: thank
you.

Members of Knesset,

We are on the eve of the Passover holiday and the Seder. At our national
table, there is an empty chair: that of Gilad Shalit. I will do everything
in my power to quickly return him healthy to the bosom of his family, and
will act to return all our missing soldiers.

Citizens of Israel, I asked myself how best to express the depth of my
feelings at this event, on the eve of Passover 2009. I chose to read an
excerpt from one of the final letters written by my late brother, Yoni,
approximately one year before he fell during the operation to rescue the
hostages in Entebbe: "Tomorrow is Passover," wrote Yoni. "I always saw it as
our most wonderful holiday; it is an age-old holiday celebrating freedom. As
I sail backwards on the wings of history, I travel through long years of
suffering, of oppression, of slaughter, of ghettos, of ostracism, of
humiliation; many years that, from an historic perspective, do not contain
one ray of light; but that is not the case because of the fact that the core
remained, hope existed, the idea of freedom continued to burn through the
fulfillment of the tradition of the ancient holiday. This, in my opinion, is
a testament to the eternalness of the aspiration for freedom in Israel, the
continuity of the idea of freedom. The Passover holiday," he wrote, "awakens
in me an emotional affinity, also because of the Seder which, like it does
for all of us, reminds me of forgotten moments from our personal pasts, my
past. I clearly remember the Seder we held in Talpiot, Jerusalem when I was
six. Among the participants were a number of elders like Rabbi Binyamin and
Professor Klausner, and my father was also there. There was a large table
and there was light. I find myself in my past, but I do not only mean my own
personal past, but also the way I see myself as an inseparable link in the
chain of our existence and independence in Israel."

Citizens of Israel, at this difficult time, let us all see ourselves as an
inseparable link in the chain of our existence and independence in Israel.
From this podium in Jerusalem, our eternal capital, I pray to G-d Almighty
that our work will be blessed, and that the unity with which we begin our
journey will be a good omen and the promise for our future.

Happy Passover.

Likud Anglos is the English-language division of the Likud Party in Israel.
For more information or to volunteer: anglos@likud.org.il, 03566-1669 or
www. en.netanyahu.org.il.