Thank you Katie and thanks to the United Jewish Communities for providing me with this opportunity to speak directly to so many of you. 

These are not easy days for the State of Israel and for the people of Israel.  For nearly a month now, the entire country is fighting against our enemies from the North.  I know you all think that we are fighting against Hizbullah, but let’s face it; the State of Israel is fighting against the Iranians and the Syrians who are using the Hizbullah in order to attack Israel from the North. This is a very difficult war.  For the first time, almost in the entire life of the State of Israel, not just the soldiers fight.  The entire country fights.  Hundreds of thousand of Israelis are faced on a daily basis with the attacks of rockets and missiles falling on the heads, falling on the houses, destroying the streets of our cities. 

A lot has been said about the refugees on the Lebanese side.  Unfortunately, almost nothing is said about the displaced people from Israel. There are hundreds of thousands of people that we had to move out of their homes and out of their works and out of the streets in order to save them by taking them away from where they live into safer places in the center of the State of Israel.  This is indeed a very brutal war.  Until now, more than a hundred people were killed both in the battlefield and in the battlefields in the cities and in the streets.

Just last night three people in Haifa were killed as a result of a rocket shot directly at their home. The fundamental difference between us and the Hizbullah and the Iranians and the Syrians, is that when we unfortunately hit a civilian, we consider it a failure. When they kill civilians, they think that this is a great success.

More than three thousand rockets were shot at the cities of Israel.  All of them are aiming at the houses of innocent people, because that’s what they want. They want to kill, they want to destroy, they hope that they will help fulfill the promise made by a President of Iran that Israel will be wiped off the map, because this is really the nature of this war.   For the first time since the old days in the 50’s and the 60’s there is a nation which stands up in a most public and formal manner and says the ultimate goal is to destroy the State of Israel and to wipe it off the map.

This is a war which is fought by all the Israelis.  I believe that this is a war that is fought by all the Jews.  This is the time when all of us can show a kind a solidarity which is so unique to the Jewish people. This is the time where we expect you, our friends from across all the communities in America and in the world to come over here and share with us the burden and the challenge.  We are going to win this war.  As I said from day one, it’s not going to be easy.  We are going to pay a terrible price.  But we would rather pay this price now than wait two, three four years, and maybe face much more devastating and destructive weapons that could have launched against the people of Israel at that time.  We have no choice.  We have to win this war and we will win this war, but we rely on you as well to share with us some of the burdens of this war. A lot needs to be done.  In the coming weeks, and months at the end of the fire, we will have to rehabilitate our cities.  We will have to rebuild thousands of houses and properties that were destroyed. We will have to bring back people to leave their normal place of life, where they used to live for so many years.  When you will come today to Kiryat Shmona you will not recognize the place.  When you come to Haifa, you will not recognize Haifa, and Nahariya, and Acco, and Afula and so many other places. This is a huge burden that we are going to take upon ourselves. And I know based on the great tradition of solidarity and partnership between the Jewish communities and the State of Israel and the Jewish people in Israel and all of the people in Israel, I know that you’ll rise to this challenge.  The State of Israel is a great state. 

The spirit of the people of the State of Israel today is unbelievable.  It is difficult and yet everyone comes to me and says to me, don’t stop now, keep on fighting, we will bear this terrible burden upon ourselves because we don’t want to give these terrorists and those who sponsor these terrorists the opportunity to keep on this destruction and this hatred and this viciousness.

Therefore there is an unbelievable resolve amongst the people of Israel. We all are united.  We are strong.  We didn’t lose the spirit that we have. We keep on and we know that the Jewish people, with the love for Israel, with your partnership, you’ll come and be with us and fight with us and defend our country and help build it the way it has to be.  Thank you.