Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened a special exhibit at the United Nations on Thursday, titled “3,000 Years of History: Jews in Jerusalem.” The exhibit, which was initiated by Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon and MK Ze’ev Elkin, Minister of Jerusalem, Heritage and Environmental Protection, includes archaeological artifacts related to the Jewish presence in Jerusalem over the millennia.
Among the archaeological finds on display in the UN headquarters are a 1,700-year-old signet ring / seal “belonging to the governor of the city” found in the Western Wall Plaza, a seal bearing the name of King Hezekiah from the 8th century BCE and a 7th century BCE seal with the inscription “the fifth to Netanyahu, his sons and his relatives.”
In his remarks, the prime minister noted, “There is a long history that is being cherished by us and by the friends of the Jewish people and the friends of truth and is being denied by those who seek to erase the history of our people, our connection to our land and our connection to our eternal capital, Jerusalem.
What this exhibit does is put the truth forward. And I saw a sign right at the entrance there. It says: ‘This doesn’t represent the United Nations’. I have two comments on that. The first is: Of course it doesn’t represent the United Nations, it represent the truth. And we’ll continue to tell the truth and speak the truth everywhere, including in the United Nations. But, the second point is this: This exhibit would not have been possible ten years ago and this exhibit will be unnecessary ten years from now. We are changing the world. We are changing Israel’s position in the world and above all, we are making it clear that we fight for the truth and for our rights.
We also fight for security. I’ve had remarkable meetings in this week with the President of the United States; with the leaders of Congress: the Senate and the House, Republicans and Democrats alike; with a wonderful crowd at AIPAC – 18,000 strong; with 500 business leaders – I had a very simple message for them – invest in Israel, it’s the future; and I’ve had a wonderful meeting just now with Ambassador Nikki Haley. We call her ‘Hurricane Haley’. She does magnificent work for the truth and for the defense of Israel here at the UN.
But most of this week was devoted to one subject- that subject is Iran. Iran not merely wishes to extinguish our history, it wishes to extinguish our present and our future and we will not let that happen.
I was asked in Washington what is Israel’s position on the request of countries to enrich Uranium, countries in the Middle East? And I said why is it that they want to enrich Uranium? And they said that they reason that they’re asking to enrich Uranium is because Iran has received the right to enrich Uranium under the dubious nuclear agreement. The best way to prevent the nuclearization of the Middle East is to either fully fix the Iran deal or full nix it. This is the only way to prevent the inevitable spread of nuclear technology and nuclear weapons into the Middle East.
While we fight for our security, we remember our rights. There is no better place to see our rights and truth than right here in the hall of the United Nations where we speak the truth and where we speak about the justice of Jerusalem.
I want to thank you all, thank you for standing up for the truth, for standing up with Israel.”