A moral abyss separates Israel from the terrorists who have relentlessly attacked it over the last century, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday at a memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl for the 3,150 victims of Arab terror.
“We only want to build, they only want to destroy,” he said, after mentioning the names of the four Israelis killed on Sunday from indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza. “We mourn, they turn terrorists into heroes, and name streets and squares after them.”
Netanyahu said that the premeditated and indiscriminate targeting of civilians tells much about the terrorists’ goals.
“If it were possible, they would destroy us all,” he said. “Anyone who murders innocent civilians, children and babies indiscriminately, with premeditation, are not fighting for human rights or freedom and liberty, but rather yearn for destruction and oppression.”
In fact, he said, when terrorists gain power – as they have in Gaza, Iran and in areas that were ruled by the Islamic State – they oppress their own people with the same cruelty they use on others. He urged the world to band together to fight terrorism, saying it was time the international community acted as one against terrorists who are striking from Sri Lanka to San Diego.
“We have fought terrorism for 100 years,” he said. “It did not break our spirit, did not prevent our independence, or the building of our state. We will continue to strengthen Israel, to build and settle our land.”
The prime minister, in reference to the flare-up in the South over the weekend, reiterated what he said soon after a ceasefire went into effect early Monday morning: “the campaign is not over.” He said that the country was considering its steps carefully, and with a “commitment to ensure Israel’s security.”