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PM Netanyahu's remarks at the "Fifty States - One Israel" Event at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the largest delegation of American legislators to ever visit Israel

Israel - Prime Minister's Office

Type: Events and Speeches
Government: The 37th Government
Publish Date: 15.09.2025

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today, at the "Fifty States - One Israel" event at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the largest delegation of American legislators to ever visit Israel:

"Can I ask a question? How many of you are visiting Israel for the first time? How many have been here before? Wow, two.

Well, welcome to all of you. It's very good to see you here with Foreign Minister Saar and Deputy Minister Sharren Haskel and our Ambassador to Washington, Yechiel. Stand up. Look at this man. Look at this man. Look at him. He, Yechiel, represents the greatest military comeback in recent history.

On October 7th, we were attacked with no provocation by the Hamas monsters. They murdered 1,200 of our citizens. They burnt babies alive. They raped and then murdered women. They beheaded men. They took 250-some hostages, grandmothers, grandchildren, Holocaust survivors, to the dungeons of Gaza.

I think a lot of people thought that we were on the ropes or perhaps flat on the ground and we didn't have a chance of coming back. A day later, on October 8th, Hezbollah joined the fray. They started rocketing our cities. Again, no provocation.

I said on that day that we will change the face of the Middle East. I said that because it was clear to me from day one that we weren't just fighting Hamas. We were fighting the Iran axis that consisted of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the three H's, and a few others in between. And while we would start with Hamas, we'd have to eventually reach the patron and in one ear or the other, all the elements of this terror axis.

This is what we proceeded to do. First, by striking hard at Hamas. Then when their main forces, main organized military forces, were obliterated, we went to the north. I hope none of you have beepers. And proceeded to take out Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah, who was, in effect, the axis of the axis. He actually held this axis together. And once he was gone, the Assad, the murderous Assad regime in Syria, collapsed.

Because during the Syrian Civil War, it wasn't the Syrian army that fought Assad's enemies. It was, invariably, when the battle didn't go well, Nasrallah would send him thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of Hezbollah troops to save his regime. Now, Nasrallah was gone, Hezbollah was crippled, so Assad fell. And once he fell, the land route that connected this axis from Tehran to the sea, Lebanon was gone.

And now, what happened was that the death noose that Hamas wanted to... that Iran wanted to put, place around our necks, was gone. That was one of their vehicles to annihilate Israel. Remember, they chanted 'Death to America, death to Israel.' To achieve death to America, they have to achieve first death to Israel, because we are America's frontline here. And the only force in the Middle East that was challenging, forcibly challenging, and fighting them in their quest for domination and subordination and annihilation, but ultimately, they were geared to America.

So, their goal was to destroy Israel, so what did they do? They began to race to the bomb. They already had enough enriched uranium, but you need the weapon around that uranium ball. And so, they began to work secretly to activate their weaponization team, it's called, in jargon, okay? We knew that if we didn't act within a year, they'd have one atomic bomb, possibly two. So, we acted. We acted like somebody who has two lumps of cancer, one lump is the atomic cancer, the spectrum of atomic bombs, and the second one is the spectrum of 20,000 ballistic missiles, one-ton ballistic missiles that fall, Mach six to Mach eight, right from the sky. And they destroyed everything that they touch. Twenty thousand of those in the state, the size of New Jersey. Right, bigger than Rhode Island, bigger than Rhode Island. But that's it, you know? Well, that's equivalent to two nuclear bombs, so we had to act. If we didn't act, we'd die. And with us, dies the whole story, the three and a half millennia story of the Jewish people.

And of course, if you do act, you know, it might come back. That's what happens with cancer. But if you don't act, you're not going to be here. So, we acted with the, just an incredible help of President Trump and those brave pilots of the United States. Our soldiers fought like lions. Our pilots just struck like lightning. And our alliance roared, roared like thunder. And that did that. We pushed those two great perils away from our door, and away from your door, because Iran's plan was to have ballistic missiles that would reach first deep into Europe, then 8,000 kilometers. You add another three, and you're on the eastern seaboard. Those of you who are deeper inside will take a little more time. But that was the goal, Death to America. And they'd have these ballistic missiles, ICBMs, and the means to give them nuclear warheads. You're all under the gun.

So, we were fighting not only our enemies, we were fighting your enemies, and now we're circling back to Gaza to finish the job, where it all began. There are still some strongholds that we have to take apart. They're holding our hostages. We are committed with America to receive, to release all the hostages, the living and the dead, and we're not going to compromise on it, nor will we compromise- nor will we compromise on eliminating Hamas- Because if Hamas is there, they'll regroup, they'll recover, they'll rearm. And as they vow, they'll do it over and over and over again.

So, this is where we are right now, on the verge of entering Gaza, and defeating Hamas and liberating the hostages. This has not been easy. Not for our brave soldiers, not for our brave Israeli public, but they who stood it, no less effectively than the British people, stood up in the blitz. That's exactly what we had. But we also enjoyed the support of the United States. We enjoyed the support, and we enjoyed your support. You're the biggest delegation of legislators that have ever come to Israel, and I thank you for coming here to stand up with Israel.

Thank you. Democrats and Republicans alike. We value and cherish your support. And there is an active effort to erode it. That effort to besiege Israel, besiege Israel. Not merely, not isolated as much, as besiege Israel. That is orchestrated by the same forces that supported Iran. Iran's effort to put a military siege on us ultimately choke us. We were able to break loose from that siege, and we will have to do several things to break loose from this siege that is organized by a few states. One is China, and the other is Qatar. And they are organizing an attack on Israel, legitimacy, in the social media of the Western world and the United States. We will have to counter it, and we will counter it with our own efforts.

I think that's rule number one. The second thing is something that they can do uniquely in Western Europe. Western Europe has large Islamist minorities. They're vocal. Many of them are politically motivated. They align with Hamas, they align with Iran. They pressure the governments of Western Europe, many of whom are kindly disposed to Israel, but they see that they are being overtaken, really, by campaigns of violent protest and constant intimidation. And so, they fall into this siege, and we can break this siege. I just said this in another meeting, and they said, 'Oh Israel is isolated. Israel can't break out of the siege.' And I said, 'We will.' Some of them have stopped weapon component shipments. Can we get out of this? Yes, we can. We're pretty good at producing weapons. Like intelligence, we share both with the United States. A good chunk, a good chunk of your intel. And or weapon systems, we share with United States.

We're tremendously appreciative of the bipartisan support and military matters to Israel in previous years. And today as well. But you have cell phones? You have cell phones here? No. You're holding a piece of Israel right there. You know that? I mean, a lot of the cell phones, the medicines, the food, you eat cherry tomatoes? You know where that was made? I don't like cherry tomatoes, but, but it's- What can I do, it's an Israeli product, as are so many other things. And I think this serves the betterment, for the betterment of all mankind, and womankind. I think that is Israel's unknown contribution, but we are, we can make things, we can produce things, we cherish the fact that we have the constancy of American support, despite the attempts to erode it. And we'll continue to work to make sure that that continues on both sides of the aisle. It's very important for us. But equally, we will eventually create the independence that we need, so those in Western Europe who think they can deny us things will not succeed.

We can break this siege, and we will. And the last thing that I want to say is that, there's, this is not a battle just for national interest. Not just for our national interest and your national interest. Those theological thugs in Tehran who amassed the crowds, who took American hostages on the first few days of their tyranny, and who since chant "death to America." They only see Israel, as a roadblock on the way to subjugate you, subordinate you, and threaten you. And they see Israel as you.

And if you look at what the Islamist radicals here and around the world say, they say that we are you. We're just a piece of you, and you are us. I disagree with everything they say except this. I think they're right. I think we're part of a common civilization with deep historic roots, of common heritage. When I went to, I've spoken four times in the joint session of Congress, and I look at the far wall, and some of you, maybe all of you will end up there, you know. Do you really want to? Well, those of you who are crazy enough to want. I mean, anybody entering politics has got to be insane, but there are quite a few insane people here. So, for those of you who go there, or next time you visit the Capitol, just look at what's on the other wall, the podium. And I look at the far wall, and what do they have? Moses, Moses, a quote from the Bible, about liberty.

You remember Moses, taking the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, familiar with the story? I'm glad there are enough. We have a common heritage, and that heritage is being challenged now by people who not only want to bring us back to the early Middle Ages with the incredible fanaticism and cruelty. It's also savagery. The things we encountered on October 7th, the things we just encountered not only in Gaza, but in Syria, in the wanton attack on our, the Druze neighbors, that's a non-Islamic sect. And they're living there in a mountain. And what they endured, exceeded in some cases, the horrors that we saw in October 7th. But what we saw there is what you saw on September 11th. It's the same thing. It's this raw savagery. The, the glint of murder. You know, those savages on October 7th? They had GoPro cameras. And they broadcast back in live, live broadcasts, as they mauled babies. And the horrors that they did. So, there's a glee, a horrible glee, of death in the worship of a death cult there, that is completely the opposite of the values that we hold dear, life, liberty. What's the other one? I visited Monticello, Jefferson's place. And that's what I saw there. I saw Jefferson, who was well versed in the Bible, spoke about the Holy Land, quoted the prophets. He understood the roots of our common civilization, as in the other founders of the, founding fathers of America, as in Abraham Lincoln, on his death, on his death date, he said that his one hope was to, you know, to visit Jerusalem, come to the Holy Land. To see the place where our common heritage began and for which it will continue.

I'm glad you are here to visit Jerusalem, to see the place of our common heritage and where our common civilization, well defended by our great alliance will continue.

Thank you for coming to Jerusalem.

Thank you all you."