(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning (Tuesday 23 October 2012) made the following remarks at the start of his meeting with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev:

 

"Mr. President, it's a pleasure to greet you here in Jerusalem, in great friendship and in great warmth.

 

Relations between Bulgaria and Israel, between the Bulgarian people and the Jewish people are strong, solid and have deep foundations. We have a thriving Bulgarian Jewish community here. I'm lucky to count many of my friends among them, and I think this friendship was tested in the darkest times of history: in World War Two with the exemplary action of so many in Bulgaria to save the Jews of Sofia, at a time when no one else was doing anything. No one was lifting a finger throughout Europe – or practically no one. I think this is a badge of honor for the people of Bulgaria, and we never forget that.

 

I had the good fortune, as a young diplomat, to be involved in the restoration of relations between Israel and Bulgaria, and those relations have flourished in every way. You come here and your Prime Minister has been here; we've been there: very strong ties in every field – in commerce and trade and in investments, cultural exchanges and of course tourism. It is in the field of tourism that we suffered a great tragedy, with the criminal terrorist attack in Bulgaria a few months ago. Again, friends are tested in times of need and you showed yourselves to be true friends. We were all impressed – all the people of Israel were impressed with the way that the people and government of Bulgaria assisted us in this time of travail.

 

I have to tell you that these terror attacks, which threaten all of us, continue unabated. Today we engaged in exchanges against terrorist aggression that comes from our southern border in Gaza, but it actually comes from Iran and a whole terror network that is supporting these attacks. Iran supported Hezbollah's terror attacks in Bulgaria; Iran is supporting terror attacks now against us in Gaza. We will fight and we will hit them very, very hard – very hard. That's the only way to fight them. The way to fight terror is to fight terror, and that we shall do with great force.

 

But I do want to say, Mr. President, that it's a pleasure to receive you here. Jerusalem and Israel and the people of Israel welcome you. Welcome to Jerusalem."