Evoking the memory of his father, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israel would defend itself in all circumstances, and act against Gaza terrorists who disrupt the daily life of Israelis with rocket attacks. “My policy is to strike at those who try to attack us. We will allow no ‘trickles,’ no ‘accumulations.’ This is how we will operate against both near and distant threats,” the Prime Minister said.
Gaza Arab terrorists fired at least seven rockets into southern Israel on Sunday night. At around 1:00 a.m., four rockets were fired towards the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. One of them may have been intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, and the other three exploded in open areas. There were no physical injuries or damages. Earlier, terrorists fired three rockets towards the Bnei Shimon Regional Council. The rockets exploded in open areas, causing no physical injuries or damages.
Netanyahu was in the Samaria town of Barkan for the inauguration of a new school named for his late father, Ben-Zion Netanyahu. The Prof. Benzion Netanyahu School opened at the beginning of the current academic year and accepts pupils from the Samaria communities of Barkan, Nofim, and Alei Zahav.
Like his father, Netanyahu said, “I believe that the Jews must be capable of defending themselves by themselves and to take determined action against any enemy that tries to attack us.
“My father thought that the revival of the Jewish People was not self-evident, that it was something we had to want, to justify,” the Prime Minister said. “He thought that with our return to our homeland and the re-establishment of our sovereignty, that there would be many would not agree with this and who would try to uproot us from our homeland and eliminate our state; therefore, he thought that a fundamental part of the establishment of the State of Israel as a renewed Jewish state was the ability of the Jews to defend themselves by themselves. This has guided me in every arena against every threat.”
Something else he said his father would feel strongly about were the recent “price tag” attacks against Arabs. The people or groups behind these attacks are not known, but police claim that Jews are responsible. “We believe in the rule of law,” Netanyahu said. “This says that there can be no lawbreakers. There is no ‘price tag’ or any other kind of tag. Of course, we are acting against other enemies, real enemies, who seek our lives, and we cannot allow the law to fray from within. We are acting with a strong hand against this as well, and we will continue to do so.”
“But the most important thing my father believed in is that we need to believe in ourselves, in the justice of our cause, in our link to our land, which we will continue to develop, not just physically but also in terms of development, in terms of trees, I would say, in terms of branches and fruit, and of roots,” Netanyahu added. “The most important thing is to deepen the roots – because from these everything grows. Today, we are here deepening our roots, and I am proud that you have decided to name this fine school after my father Benzion. I simply regret that he cannot be here with us, but his spirit is with us.”
