Rivlin: “We will not anyone to interrupt our daily lives”
President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mayor of Jerusalem Moshe Lion spoke at the official Jerusalem Day ceremony held at Ammunition Hill.
President Rivlin addresses Jerusalem Day Photo: Mark Neyman (GPO)
President Rivlin said: “This evening, we look at Israel’s enemies, on all fronts, straight in the eye and warn them clearly and without compromise: the security of our citizens is not to be disrupted. We will not allow anyone to interrupt our daily lives. We will not be bowed in the face of any threat. Whoever seeks to test our resilience will find a defensive wall, an iron fist. Let nobody challenge the lethal might of our forces. Do not put them to the test.”
The wail of the sirens in Jerusalem a short time ago is still with us. Repeated Code Red alarms that disrupt normal daily lives in the south, right now too, are putting our dear ones in the south of the country, the Gaza envelope that envelopes our whole country, into their safe rooms.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s told those attending the ceremony: “We are in a fight on several fronts: Jerusalem, Gaza and elsewhere in the country. This evening, on Jerusalem Day, the terrorist organizations in Gaza have crossed a red line and attacked us with missiles in the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Israel will respond with great force. We will not tolerate attacks on our territory, on our capital, on our citizens and on our soldiers. Whoever attacks us will pay a heavy price.
I say to you, citizens of Israel, the current conflict could continue for some time. We do not seek escalation but whoever chooses to escalate will feel the weight of our arm. I cannot tell you about the assessments that I am holding with the security elements or about the actions that we are carrying out. This is an uncompromising fight that stems from a view of the overall picture. We are waging it with determination, responsibility and understanding.
We will not fall into the traps of our enemies and we are not beholden to the keyboards of Twitter users. The test of leadership requires that the right decisions be made even when they are not understood at any given moment and their justification becomes clear later on.
Whoever is incapable of leading and withstanding the pressure of criticism is unfit for leadership. We will carefully choose the timing of our response and the force of the confrontation with our enemies. This is not new.”
