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Source: http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Speeches/Pages/speechJerusalemKnesset010616.aspx
Netanyahu: Our Roots in Jerusalem Are Deeper than Any Other People
(Prime Minister's Office) Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the Knesset on Wednesday in honor of Jerusalem Day. On the 49th anniversary of the reunification of Israel's capital, Jerusalem - the beating heart of our nation - is advancing by leaps and bounds. We remember the Jerusalem that was divided until the Six-Day War. We remember the barbed wire fences, the minefields, the no-man's land. We remember them firing from east to west. Since our very beginning as a people, our existence was tied to Jerusalem. The vast majority of the public understands that only democratic Israel can safeguard Jerusalem's existence as an open city, one that has freedom for all religions. UNESCO, the organization charged by the UN to preserve the world's heritage, recently determined that the Temple Mount has no connection to the Jewish people. Our forefathers visited the Temple Mount 3,800 years ago. The two temples of the Jewish people stood on the Temple Mount for one thousand years. King David made Jerusalem our capital 3,000 years ago, and ever since, the Jewish people have prayed in the direction of the Temple Mount. Does anyone claim that the pyramids in Giza have no connection to the Egyptians? That the Acropolis in Athens has no connection to the Greeks? That the Coliseum in Rome has no connection to the Italians? We, the people of Israel, have a primal claim on Jerusalem. Our roots here are deeper than any other people, and the same is true about the Temple Mount.