​(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning (Sunday, 25 March 2018), at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, made the following remarks:
 
"Today we will mark two events that – in the perspective of time – will be seen as historic. The first is the fact that a few days ago Air India flew directly to Israel, on a straight line from India to Tel Aviv. The significance is clear to all. This is significant economically, technologically, diplomatically and for tourism – significance of the highest order.
 
The Israeli economy will develop in two ways – either with new products or in new markets. What we are doing here is breaking through to gigantic new markets and it is a very important change. The goal I hope to delineate is that the next flight or flights includes direct flights from Tel Aviv to Mumbai in five hours, less than from Tel Aviv to London. The significance is great.
 
I would like to thank, first of all, the people I have been working with for several years in this effort, especially Yitzhak Molcho and Yariv Levin, Eli Groner and – of course – Yisrael Katz and the Civil Aviation Authority. This came together over the years and is creating a vast potential for the state of Israel. I think that the long-term significance will become clear later on but as of now I do not think that anymore needs to be said beyond what I have said here, so as to facilitate these developments.
 
I would also like to thank Meir Ben-Shabbat for assisting Air India; your predecessor also helped us. This was a long-term, behind-the-scenes effort and for the moment it is best that it remain such but I thank you Meir for this important thing that you have done.
 
The second thing that we are doing that is of historic significance is investing close to NIS 1 billion in digital health. We are developing the industries of tomorrow. In effect these are the industries of today. They are based on a combination of three things: Very large databases, artificial intelligence and connectivity. The combination of these things is creating new industries. For example, the cyber industry. It is based on exactly this. We are a world leader in the cyber industry, in cyber defense, which is based on these three principles. We are among the world's leaders in this field, as it were from nothing.
 
Two-and-a-half years ago, I marked an additional area and that is digital health. This has a greater potential than cyber. It is gigantic, greater than transportation, which is also a gigantic field. This field of digital health estimated at $6 trillion. Let us assume that we will receive 10% of the real market for this potential, not our market, the real global market in the coming years. In my view, this is the maximum estimate. It is a $600 billion market and of it, if we succeed, as we did in cyber and autonomous vehicles and our vehicle industry, we can expect here a significant increase in new products. India is new markets; this means both new markets and new products here.
 
What are the new products? Israel has a gigantic database that embraces almost the entire population, a large population relative to – let's say – the Baltic countries, one of which has one million people in this databank; we have almost nine million people. This is a focused databank of the health records of almost each and every one of us over the last two decades. This is a great asset and we want to make it available to researchers, developers and companies in order to receive two things: Preventive medicine and personal medicine, personally calibrated for each person. Of course, this depends on the agreement of each person – this right is maintained absolutely – to divulge their personal details and if not he is part of the collective. The collective itself is of immense value. We are achieving a breakthrough here on a global level. The interest of global companies is very great. I have already met with many of them. They all want to come here, and rightly so. They see this as a new direction.
 
Success is not assured. The relative investment, I think, is not large, NIS 960 million, it is not the end of the world, but it is a significant investment that the government is making in order to capture the industries of the future, to bring them here so that we can lead. This is a very strong decision and it has partners, especially Eli Groner, Minister Gila Gamliel, the Finance minister, the Deputy Health Minister. They are all party to this important move."
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu added:
 
"I would like to make it clear that the development of these industries is not always a government decision. The vehicle industry developed on its own, we just did not bother it. We did not bother it with over-regulation or high taxes and it developed on its own with the advantage of big data, connectivity and artificial intelligence. It happened on its own. Cyber did not happen on its own. It required feeding, our unceasing investments in our computer and intelligence units; therefore, it depends on government investment. Health will not happen on its own; it requires our investment, to set this vision and guide it in a healthy way – and we are doing so.
 
I expect you to bring me other such points, to see where our efforts this great relative advantage. At dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping, we showed him the health card. He said: I also want one like this. I told him: One like this is not enough. You need 1.3 billion like this, or less. And he was very excited by this. In effect, every country and thousands of companies are currently competing for what we are deciding to invest in today.
 
The entire world wants health. Everyone wants to travel in these and other cars. Everyone wants transportation and security that their bank accounts will not be broken into. Everyone wants to live, to live a healthier and longer life. This is the ultimate market and strongest market not just economically but personally. We can change. This is a very great thing with gigantic potential; therefore, we are investing in it. I usually do not hurry to invest government funds in visions. I am a little more cautious, being a graduate of the private sector. I think that politicians are always very quick with visions – nano-visions, micro-visions and macro-visions; they have all kinds of visions. But we are cautious. Up until now we have been very precise, very precise in cyber and very precise in other fields. I think that we are very precise. This is a historic day and I think that we will remember it for many years.
 
I would like to touch upon a third issue. The American Congress has passed the Taylor Force Act, which is named after an American student who was murdered in Jaffa, Taylor Force, from a wonderful family. It is designed to deny to the Palestinian Authority hundreds of millions of dollars that they invest in encouraging terrorism and lavish on terrorist families and the murderers themselves. I think that this is a very powerful signal from the US which is changing the rules. It is unwilling to accept the truth of the past or, I should say, the lies of the past, and live with them. It is simply exposing lie after lie and is standing up on truth after truth. I congratulate the American Congress and President Trump for these decisions. I am certain that I do so on behalf of all Israeli government ministers.
 
This is the opportunity to wish all citizens of Israel and the Jewish people wherever they are, a happy and kosher Passover. I reiterate my recommendation: Travel around our beautiful country and eat a lot of haroset.
 
Happy holiday."