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Israeli Foreign Minister to UN: Jewish Presence in Israel Is the Clearest Case of Proven Rights of Any Nation to Any Land
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar told the UN Security Council on Thursday: "4,000 years ago, our patriarch Abraham lived and walked in ancient Hebron, Beersheba, and Beth-El. Over 3,000 years ago King David established Jerusalem as our capital. Jewish presence in the Land of Israel - even throughout our long exile - has never ceased for even a day. In the history of nations and states, this is probably the clearest case of proven and documented historic rights of any nation to any land." "We are the indigenous people in the Land of Israel. The archeological findings in our ancient sites - including the City of David, the Western Wall Tunnels and others - tell the history of our land. This jug handle is from the Kingdom of Judea - 2,700 years ago. It has the stamp of the Jewish king on it. This coin, from nearly 2,000 years ago, says 'Freedom for Zion.' Found in the Judean desert, it was minted during the second year of the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans. How can Jewish presence in our ancient homeland violate international law?" "In 1917 the British government issued the historic Balfour Declaration - in order to reestablish a National Home for the Jewish people in our land. The same places in the heart of our ancient homeland you claim that Jews are forbidden to live in and that allegedly violate international law, you recognized as belonging to a National Home for the Jewish people." "In 1921, then Secretary of State for the Colonies Winston Churchill said on a visit to the Land of Israel: 'It is manifestly right that the Jews should have a National Home and where else could that be but in this land...with which for more than 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated.'" "The claim that Israelis cannot live in Judea and Samaria isn't just inconsistent with international law and Britain's own Balfour Declaration. It's morally distorted. How can Jews be allowed to live in London or Paris or New York, but not in the cradle of our own civilization: Ancient Jerusalem - which you call East Jerusalem, Shiloh, Hebron and Beth-El?" "There will be peace one day. It won't be achieved by removing people from their homes - Jews or Arabs. The idea that Jewish communities are an 'obstacle to peace' is outrageous. It's disconnected from the current and past reality in Judea and Samaria. With all due respect, we won't abandon our heritage, security and future to ease other countries' domestic political difficulties." "Israel signed the Oslo Accords - and received a murderous intifada of suicide attacks. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005. We dismantled our communities - and even our cemeteries. We received the world's largest terror state in Gaza and the October 7th massacre. When will you get it? We will not risk our own existence."