Bibi holds cabinet meeting in Western Wall tunnels

BY DAVID SAFFER

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his cabinet meeting in the Western Wall tunnels in honour of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) last Sunday.

Israel’s leader offered his opening remarks to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas after his comments to the United Nations last week that Jewish people had “no links to the Temple Mount” and eastern Jerusalem was part of the Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu noted: “Today we are at the foot of the Temple Mount upon which King Solomon built the First Temple of the Jewish People. It is the heart of the historical State of Israel, the City of David, and has been here for 3,000 years. The deep ties between the Jewish people and Jerusalem is one that has no parallel among the nations. Jerusalem was our capital around 1,100 years before London became the capital of England, approximately 1,800 years before Paris became the capital of France and around 2,800 years before Washington DC became the capital of the United States.”

Adding a further historic context, he said: “Fifty-six years ago, in the Six Day War, we unified Jerusalem and the fight for its unity has not ended. Time and again, I have been forced to repel international pressure on the part of those who would divide Jerusalem again, and by Prime Ministers of Israel who were prepared to give in to those pressures, and were even prepared to concede the Jewish people’s holiest places. We have acted differently. Not only have we not divided Jerusalem, we have built and expanded it. I am proud to have had the great privilege of building new neighborhoods in Jerusalem, such as Har Homa, Givat Hamatos and Maaleh Hazeitim, in which tens of thousands of Israelis live. We did all this together in the face of great international pressure. We stood against these pressures.”

Netanyahu added: “I am proud that the governments we have headed have led great expansion and development in all parts of the city, western and eastern, on behalf of its residents. I am proud that we have brought about American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of the US and other embassies to the capital, and our hand is still extended.

“More embassies will be transferred to Jerusalem. But the work is not over and the challenge is yet before us. There are those who want to divide Jerusalem and say so openly. Only the national camp led by us will safeguard a strong and united Jerusalem. We must continue to maintain our government.”

Netanyahu said his government had restored national honour with the flag march through the streets of Jerusalem and in the IDF’s Operation Shield and Arrow military operation against Islamic Jihad.

He also told ministers it was essential MKs pass the state budget.

Netanyahu was aware National Security

Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir controversially visited the Temple Mount hours earlier.

Egypt and Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit as “provocative”. Egypt called on Israel to stop adding to existing tensions.

Ben Gvir stood by his decision, he said: “I am happy to go up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the people of Israel. We are the owners of the house here. All the threats of Hamas will not help, we are the owners of Jerusalem and the whole Land of Israel.”

Netanyahu, meantime, attended a State Ceremony at Ammunition Hill for Jerusalem Day. He noted: “Despite the threats, and I would say, because of the threats, I directed that the flag march be held with the participation of thousands, properly and along its customary route.

“We dealt heavy blows on those who