PM Netanyahu's remarks at Independence Hall 1 May 2014
Israeli Missions Around The World MFA Press Room 2014 PM Netanyahu's remarks at Independence Hall 1 May 2014

PM Netanyahu's remarks during his visit to Independence Hall

  • 5/1/2014
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    The State of Israel will always preserve the full equality, in personal and civil rights, of all its citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, in a Jewish and democratic country.
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    PM Benjamin Netanyahu PM Benjamin Netanyahu Copyright: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom
     
     
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    (Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Thursday, 1 May 2014), made the following remarks during his tour of Independence Hall in Tel Aviv:
    "The Declaration of Independence sets, as the cornerstone in the life of the state, the national Jewish identity of the State of Israel. To my great regret, as we have seen recently, there are those who do not recognize this natural right. They seek to undermine the historic, moral and legal justification for the existence of the State of Israel as the national state of our people.
    One of my main missions as Prime Minister of Israel is to bolster the status of the State of Israel as the national state of our people. To this end, it is my intention to submit a basic law to the Knesset that would provide a constitutional anchor for Israel's status as the national state of the Jewish people.  I believe that the most basic component in our life as a nation will receive constitutional status similar to the other main components that are the foundation of our state, as determined in the basic laws.
    The State of Israel will always preserve the full equality, in personal and civil rights, of all its citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, in a Jewish and democratic country. And indeed, in Israel, individual and civil rights are assured for everyone, which sets us apart in the large expanse of the Middle East and even beyond.
    I find it astonishing that among those who call on Israel to make concessions in Judea and Samaria due to the self-evident desire to avoid a binational state, there are those who oppose defining the State of Israel as the national state of the Jewish People. One cannot favor the establishment of a Palestinian national state in order to maintain the Jewish character of the State of Israel and – at the same time – oppose recognizing that the State of Israel is the national state of the Jewish People. Supporting the establishment of a Palestinian national state and opposing the recognition of the Jewish national state undermines – over the long-term – the State of Israel's very right to exist."