​Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this afternoon (Wednesday, 19 December 2012), at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, in view of the Old City of Jerusalem, met with Asian and Pacific ambassadors to Israel. The Prime Minister said: "I want to thank you all for coming and it's going to be a great opportunity to discuss the world matters, regional matters – our quest for peace and security – and we have an opportunity to speak about this in detail. I do want to use the opportunity that we're here in this fantastic panorama to point out a simple fact: The walls of Jerusalem that you see behind us represent the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years. Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years. All Israeli governments have built in Jerusalem. We're not going to change that. That's a natural thing. I want you to ask any of you to imagine that you would limit construction in your own capital. It doesn't make sense. And I think that for us, the important thing is that we are committed to our capitals; we're committed to peace; and we're going to build in Jerusalem for all its residents. This is something that has been done by all previous governments; this is something that my government will continue to do."