Netanyahu compares today’s Jerusalem to 1967

“Not one day has passed without us reaching out to our neighbors in peace,” said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a speech on Jerusalem’s Ammunition Hill yesterday, at a memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers. ” Not even one day, and we still reach out to those of our neighbors who want peace.”

Mayor Nir Barkat, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish and Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar were also on hand for the ceremony, along with IDF soldiers, high school students and bereaved families from across the country.

“Forty-three years ago, this hill, Ammunition Hill, symbolized a wounded city, a city cut in half, and in its heart — a wall,” began Netanyahu, comparing the 1967 battle to the current situation in Jerusalem. “Today, along the outline of that same wall, there are light-rail tracks that will connect the flourishing Jerusalem neighborhoods established and built during the decades that have passed since the very day we are marking here today.”

“Twice we have paid the heavy cost of liberating the siege on Jerusalem,” added the Prime Minister. “First, during the War of Independence, and again, when the city was bombed during the Six-Day War. One of the most decisive battles of that campaign was fought right here. True heroes fell here, and together with their comrades all along the frontlines, they changed the lives of our people, our country and our city.”

Netanyahu said after the 1967 war Jerusalem went from a divided and weakened city, to a city full of life and renewal. “Today, children play in the trenches of Ammunition Hill and in other former battle sites, cultural events are held in Sultan’s Pool,” he said. “Today, there is a museum at the Tourgeman House, which was a fortified outpost.

“On the wall of that museum, between the holes left by bullets, there is something written in Hebrew, Arabic and English: ‘Our borders will be olive trees.’ Not one day has passed without us reaching out to our neighbors in peace. Not even one day, and we still reach out to those of our neighbors who desire peace.

“Over the years, we have learned that the olive branches of peace will only be attained if we are strong and are willing to defend our country as did those who have fallen here.”

The Prime Minister noted that 182 olive trees surround the hill, planted in memory of the 182 soldiers who fell in the campaign for Jerusalem. Quoting Isaiah 11:1 — “A staff will emerge from the stump of Yishai and a shoot will sprout from his roots” — Netanyahu said, “This is our path, the path of Judaism and of Israel, as our non-Jewish brothers also fell.”

Commissioner of Israel Police David Cohen spoke at the ceremony in honor of Israel’s fallen police officers, noting 1,249 officers have lost their lives over the years.

President Shimon Peres, during a ceremony last night at the Western Wall Plaza, lit a memorial flame and addressed Israel’s bereaved families, saying that Israel seeks peace, but will defend itself in case of war.

“On this blessed occasion, I want to say in the name of the state of Israel at large: We do not seek war,” Peres told the families. “We are a nation that yearns for peace, but knows, and will always know, how to defend itself.”

Tags: Ammunition Hill, Jerusalem, Netanyahu, Peres