Jerusalem, Israel - Sept. 11, 2025 - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Thursday, 11 September 2025), at the signing ceremony for the roof agreement in Maale Adumim [Translated from Hebrew]:
"I want to tell you, when I came here for the first time, I was 18, because before this, this was occupied territory by others. It was in 1967, and I learned to navigate in the unit I served with. The best place to learn navigation – was here because the hills were completely bare, and you had the ability to see the topography, the mountains, the wadis. I was very moved to be here because I walked amidst ancient vistas, our vistas. It has been wonderful to see how this has been built.
I remember the Kastel Museum. I remember every stage. I thought that here was an expression of Biblical prophecies. It says in the Bible [Psalms 125:2] 'As the mountains are round about Jerusalem.' It is a scribal error. Jerusalem – cities are round about it! We have begun to build city after city, and Maale Adumim was and is a part of our land, and there will be many others like it in our land.
What we are doing here is, in effect, realizing a dream. [Former long-time Maale Adumim Mayor] Benny [Cashriel], you remember, we went out, I greatly love walking on these hills. We went out on one of the hills and I said: 'Here a neighborhood, there a neighborhood'. You said: 'Approve it.' I said: 'I approve' but between approval and implementation in the State of Israel, wow!, it can take a very long time. Therefore, something very big is happening here today. This will implement the doubling of the city of Maale Adumim. Within five years, there will be 70,000 people here. This will be a major change.
We know that there is another change here, or to be more precise, another implementation of a promise, not from the Bible, but a current one. We said that there will not be a Palestinian state – and indeed there will be no Palestinian state! This place is ours. We will see to our heritage, our land and our security.
We are now almost two years into a war that was forced on us on that terrible day of slaughter, of abductions of our hostages, most of whom have returned, but others remain. We will bring them all back – the living and the deceased.
However, we understood, and I said this on the second day of the war, we will change the face of the Middle East. Because it was clear to me that we were not fighting just the murderers of Hamas, but we were fighting Iran and the Iranian axis, that in effect came to strangle us and destroy us. We did so step by step, step by step. When I say 'We did it', we did it together. Not just my friends in government, it is the heroes, our soldiers who are fighting, and the heroes who have fallen, and the people of Israel who have constantly stood steadfast, when we struck Iran and pushed off an existential threat. Not just over hundreds or thousands, but over millions of Israeli citizens, and over our entire future, and over the dream of the generations who came before us, for realizing the dream of those who will come after us.
We removed these threats thanks to the steadfast endurance of the citizens of Israel, yours here in Maale Adumim. We will complete the work. What began in Gaza – will end in Gaza. We will defeat Hamas.
At the same time, we are dealing with other parts of the axis, who still need to be dealt with, such as the Houthis. But we really are taking brave and determined action. Perhaps the most important thing in this battle, is the determination that stems from the recognition that we are fighting not just for our land, our children and our grand-children, but to ensure – in two words – the eternity of Israel. The eternity of Israel is currently being decided in all parts of the Land of Israel, here as well, in the expanding Maale Adumim.
Congratulations. Happy holidays to Maale Adumim. Happy holidays and thank you."
Jerusalem, Israel - Sept. 11, 2025 - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Thursday, 11 September 2025), at the signing ceremony for the roof agreement in Maale Adumim [Translated from Hebrew]:
"I want to tell you, when I came here for the first time, I was 18, because before this, this was occupied territory by others. It was in 1967, and I learned to navigate in the unit I served with. The best place to learn navigation – was here because the hills were completely bare, and you had the ability to see the topography, the mountains, the wadis. I was very moved to be here because I walked amidst ancient vistas, our vistas. It has been wonderful to see how this has been built.
I remember the Kastel Museum. I remember every stage. I thought that here was an expression of Biblical prophecies. It says in the Bible [Psalms 125:2] 'As the mountains are round about Jerusalem.' It is a scribal error. Jerusalem – cities are round about it! We have begun to build city after city, and Maale Adumim was and is a part of our land, and there will be many others like it in our land.
What we are doing here is, in effect, realizing a dream. [Former long-time Maale Adumim Mayor] Benny [Cashriel], you remember, we went out, I greatly love walking on these hills. We went out on one of the hills and I said: 'Here a neighborhood, there a neighborhood'. You said: 'Approve it.' I said: 'I approve' but between approval and implementation in the State of Israel, wow!, it can take a very long time. Therefore, something very big is happening here today. This will implement the doubling of the city of Maale Adumim. Within five years, there will be 70,000 people here. This will be a major change.
We know that there is another change here, or to be more precise, another implementation of a promise, not from the Bible, but a current one. We said that there will not be a Palestinian state – and indeed there will be no Palestinian state! This place is ours. We will see to our heritage, our land and our security.
We are now almost two years into a war that was forced on us on that terrible day of slaughter, of abductions of our hostages, most of whom have returned, but others remain. We will bring them all back – the living and the deceased.
However, we understood, and I said this on the second day of the war, we will change the face of the Middle East. Because it was clear to me that we were not fighting just the murderers of Hamas, but we were fighting Iran and the Iranian axis, that in effect came to strangle us and destroy us. We did so step by step, step by step. When I say 'We did it', we did it together. Not just my friends in government, it is the heroes, our soldiers who are fighting, and the heroes who have fallen, and the people of Israel who have constantly stood steadfast, when we struck Iran and pushed off an existential threat. Not just over hundreds or thousands, but over millions of Israeli citizens, and over our entire future, and over the dream of the generations who came before us, for realizing the dream of those who will come after us.
We removed these threats thanks to the steadfast endurance of the citizens of Israel, yours here in Maale Adumim. We will complete the work. What began in Gaza – will end in Gaza. We will defeat Hamas.
At the same time, we are dealing with other parts of the axis, who still need to be dealt with, such as the Houthis. But we really are taking brave and determined action. Perhaps the most important thing in this battle, is the determination that stems from the recognition that we are fighting not just for our land, our children and our grand-children, but to ensure – in two words – the eternity of Israel. The eternity of Israel is currently being decided in all parts of the Land of Israel, here as well, in the expanding Maale Adumim.
Congratulations. Happy holidays to Maale Adumim. Happy holidays and thank you."
