Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu
“My distinguished guests, above all – my brothers and sisters, families of the civilians who fell in the War of Redemption.
Together with the entire nation, my wife Sara and I stand with you as a profound pain resides within us. Your grief is the nation’s grief. I know what a void has been torn within you. Everything reminds us of our loved ones: The empty chair at the table. A favorite food. A touching song. We will cherish the memory of each and every one of the fallen.
In their name and for their sake, we will continue to strike our enemies, unceasingly strengthen our state, and build our homeland from generation to generation. We will embrace those injured in body and soul – we will embrace them with a prayer rising from the depths of our hearts that they may find solace and healing.
Karin Journo was a captivating 24-year-old Israeli woman – the daughter of Doron and Inbal. Her zest for life, the sparkle in her eyes, her inner and outer beauty – all of these enchanted everyone who met her. Like thousands of other young men and women, Karin was among those who attended the ‘Nova’ party three years ago. Karin partied, sang, danced, laughed – until those terrifying moments when Hamas murderers overran the party site at the Re’im site.
More than ten days passed – and the Journo family received the bitter news: ‘Karin has been identified. She is no longer missing. An RPG missile hit the ambulance next to which she was sitting. She was murdered at the Nova.’ A few weeks ago, I visited Ben-Gurion Airport and met Karin’s father, Doron, a Ben-Gurion Airport employee. Doron told me from the depths of his tormented soul: ‘All that is left of my Karin is three teeth. The terrorists burned her. That is what is left for me.’ And then he added in a choked voice: ‘Prime Minister, finish the mission. Finish the mission in the Gaza Strip.’ I hugged him, and promised him: ‘This is my commitment. We will finish the mission. And I want you to know – every day we are completing it.’ And I say this to you too, my distinguished guests: We will never reconcile with this horrific crime, and precisely for that reason – we will complete the mission. We will settle accounts with those who dispatched and carried out the horrific massacre in our towns, our kibbutzim, our cities. There is no forgiveness for the murderers, the abusers, the arsonists. There is no forgiveness for the destroyers, the looters, the kidnappers.
We brought home all of our hostages who were held in the tunnels of Gaza, but this is not the end of the story: We are hunting without letup the human-beasts who attacked us with shocking cruelty, and those who held the hostages with shocking cruelty. We are eliminating them one by one – they are not worthy of walking upon the face of the earth. We will eradicate Hamas’s regime of blood. We will destroy it. That is how one ought to deal with those agents of darkness who aspire to destroy us all.
Dear families, We experienced violent outbursts from our enemies even before the establishment of the state, and following the establishment of the state. The indoctrination of hatred toward Jews and Israelis courses through their blood. They simply imbibe it with their mothers’ milk. The October 7 massacre brought their unrestrained savagery to an all-time low. These sons of Satan filmed their horrific deeds to strike terror and fear into us. But they found facing them something else they did not expect – they found facing them a nation determined to defend its home as much as required.
From the abysses of the fracture, the forces of our life burst forth. In the most difficult moments, our heroes did not hesitate – they leaped into the fire. Soldiers, female soldiers. Policemen and policewomen. Security personnel. And no less than that – citizens imbued with mutual responsibility, who acted to rescue, to save, to deliver.
And our enemies saw this very quickly; very soon, the cheering of the Iranian axis was swiftly replaced by the realization that Israel is going to strike back with a force they had not imagined.
That Israel is going to sever the tentacles of terror, smash the ‘Axis of Evil,’ and collapse the core systems of Iran itself – of the head of the demonic octopus.
Our iron fist strikes everyone who has raised a hand against us. I remind the free world that in doing so, we are not only defending ourselves, we are also defending it.
Because when the volcano of this fundamentalist terror and hatred erupts, its destructive lava knows no restraint. Terrorism has no borders – it does not bypass Britain, it does not bypass France, it does not bypass the Netherlands. It does not spare many countries. As you have seen and see, this does not prevent their leaders from hurling horrific blood libels against us. Once about so-called ‘genocide’, once about ‘organized violence’ against Palestinians, once about the ‘starvation’ of the children of Gaza. Lie follows lie. Libel follows libel, and we must fight it.
Sabin Tassa from Netiv HaAsara lost her husband, who was murdered in front of her children, and lost another son on Zikim Beach. She is a heroine fighting the lie. She just traveled to the Netherlands, accompanied by one person. She went to a screening in the Netherlands of the false and libelous film ‘Naza.’ (https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/idf-press-releases-israel-at-war/october-26-pr/idf-response-to-the-film-naza/) She entered a hall full of angry, scowling people, stood up, and said: ‘Here is the truth. Here is the truth. I am the truth.’ And they told her: ‘We don’t want to hear you, get out of here, I hope you burn.’ To stand like that, the way Sabin Tassa stood there, is heroism. She is fighting heroically for truth and justice. I salute you, Sabin; the entire nation salutes you. We will continue to struggle for the truth – and the truth will prevail. Good will prevail – Israel will prevail. Just as we saw the heroism of Israel’s citizens at its best on the plane from Dubai. That same heroism we saw on October 7 and throughout the War of Redemption.
I know many of us who also have a personal connection to the horrific massacre on October 7. Family, acquaintances, friends, and likewise in my own family. On October 7, Jonathan Azulay, 25, participated in the Nova party. Jonathan, the son of Yaakov and Linda Azulay. Yaakov was the personal driver of my wife, Sara. And his mother, Linda, is the sister of my driver of 35 years, Eli Elouz. When their son was born, they invited me, my wife, my son, and my late father Prof. Netanyahu to come. They asked me to be the sandak, because Jonathan was named after my brother Yoni. Our families are intertwined with one another, the children played together, grew up together. At 7:00 in the morning, on October 7, his mother Linda received a call from Jonathan. He was inside a shelter, terrorists were outside, he fought them to save his partner, and a few minutes later the sound of an explosion was heard. Jonathan was killed by the grenade but managed to save his partner.
There are so many instances of heroism by citizens who were thrust into the depths of adversity, into hell, and managed with ingenuity both to protect others and to sacrifice their lives. And this gives us a supreme command – not only to fight our enemies, to prevent the disaster and defend our country. It also gives us a command to rehabilitate and build.
We are vigorously rehabilitating the Western Negev, the communities, the cities, the kibbutzim. We are bringing the Western Negev to unprecedented growth. We are building all the areas, including Nir Oz which we visited. Everything is growing anew, everything is flourishing and rising. We do not forget the pain, we remember the pain, and we build. Over 90% of the residents have returned to their homes. Thousands of new residents have joined them.
Thus it is in the south – and thus it is and will be in the north as well. In place of destruction – building. In place of falling – revival. As the prophet Isaiah said: ‘To give them beauty instead of ashes.’ Terrorism will not extinguish the eternal light of our nation – the light of our loved ones who were murdered. By their light, we will persevere on the path. We will persevere in reaching out a hand to one another. We will persevere in marching forward – for the future of the nation and the State. With God’s help, the victims of hostile acts will always be part of our national journey toward revival, hope, and victory. May their memory be blessed.”
Video credit: Roi Avraham (GPO).
Attached photo credits: Ma’ayan Toaf (GPO)
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