PM Netanyahu’s remarks at the start of the Cabinet meeting
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Tuesday, 23 September 2014), made the following remarks at the start of the Cabinet meeting:
 
"When we found the bodies of Naftali, Gilad and Eyal, I said that whoever perpetrated the kidnapping and murder of our boys would bear the consequences and added that we would not rest until we had reached the last of them wherever they were hiding. I also said that this was our first mission and that it would be carried out. This morning it was carried out.
 
We said from the outset that Hamas was responsible for the abduction and murder and in light of the proof we have accumulated Hamas admitted that it was behind this terrorist attack.
 
I would like to commend the outstanding intelligence work of the ISA. I would like to commend the ISA, the Israel Police Anti-Terror Unit and the IDF. On behalf of the people of Israel I salute you for your precise and important operation. We will continue strike at terrorism everywhere. A few days after the attack I said near Hebron, the city of the patriarchs, that we would pursue the enemy, find them and not return until they had been dealt with. This morning the long arm of Israeli justice did just this."
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he had spoken earlier this morning with the parents of the three youths and continued, "With the advent of the New Year, nothing can assuage their pain and nothing can bring back their wonderful, dear boys. But I told them that justice has been done and that we had carried out the mission that we promised to them and all of Israel."
 
The Prime Minister added: "Today, the Cabinet will discuss a proposal to invest an additional NIS 2 billion in the communities of the south. The plan includes building an additional hospital in Be'er Sheva, paving roads, assisting small and intermediate businesses, and developing tourism enterprises in the south and around the country in the wake of Operation Protective Edge. These decisions are in addition to the decision we made on Sunday to add over NIS 1 billion for Sderot and the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
 
I told the mayors and local council heads that I met with yesterday at the Eshkol Regional Council that the State of Israel was not making these unprecedented investments just for show. We are doing so with a two-fold goal – investing in and deepening our hold on all parts of the country but also as a message to those who seek to uproot us, that they will never succeed in doing so. We are all responsible for this.
 
I would like to wish all citizens of Israel a good and happy New Year. I would also like to wish ministers a good and happy year. We are working together in order to ensure the future of the State of Israel and the people of Israel. May we all have a good, prosperous, safe and quiet year."