Thank you to JNS for once again providing us with a platform to present the message of sovereignty.
Our message:
Good afternoon, and thank you to JNS for organizing this important conference.
I am speaking on behalf of my partner, Yehudit Katsover, the Sovereignty Movement, and the 84% of Israel’s national camp who, according to a poll we conducted recently, demand the application of Israeli sovereignty.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me ask a question:
Why did Ben-Gurion need to declare the State of Israel ?
Before independence, there was already an impressive Jewish reality. There were cities -Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Herzliya. There were kibbutzim, national institutions, schools, defense organizations, and Jewish leadership. Hundreds of thousands of Jews .
But Ben-Gurion understood one fundamental truth: Settlement alone is not sovereignty. That is why, despite international pressure, American opposition, and despite the fact that Jews were outnumbered by Arabs, Ben-Gurion transformed the Zionist enterprise from a settlement project into a sovereign state.
Nineteen years later, after the Six-Day War, we returned to our Biblical heartland—Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, Gaza, Sinai and Jerusalem.
Since then, thanks to heroic pioneers, an amazing reality has been built in these areas: hundreds of thousands of Jews, thriving communities, cities, farms, schools, roads, and industries. But it is still not enough.
Settlement creates a presence on the ground. Sovereignty creates a political permance.
Without sovereignty, that presence remains reversible - as we learned the hard way in 2005, when thriving Jewish communities were uprooted in just six days.
As long as Israel does not apply sovereignty, it sends a message that it is not sure it is ours forever. It gives hope to our enemies that one day the Jews will leave and a Palestinian state will arise. G-d forbid.
Just look at Israel’s official national planning map. Judea and Samaria remain outside Israel’s sovereign framework despite hundreds of thousands of Israelis living there.
Next year we will mark sixty years since our return to our Biblical Heartland. What are we waiting for? Those who oppose Israeli sovereignty oppose it for one reason: sovereignty closes the door on a Palestinian state. Jewish construction does not alarm them because it can be reversed with a less rightwing government G-d forbid; sovereignty cannot. That is why some of these people are now trying to rehabilitate the murderous Palestinian Authority and terrorist figures like Mohammed Dahlan and give them, G-d forbid Gaza, Judea and Samaria. Israeli sovereignty would end this nightmare once and for all. It would mean the final rejection of the infamous Oslo accords and the end of the Palestinian Authority.
Let me finish with 1 question:
What will Prime Minister Netanyahu's historic legacy be if not sovereignty?
The majority supports it. The facts justify it. History demands it. International law supports it.
That is why we call upon this government to bring sovereignty to a government vote before the elections in October.
There can be no stronger answer to those who massacred our people on October 7 than this:
We are here because God gave us this land. This land is ours and ours only.
We are here forever.
Israeli Sovereignty-From the River to the Sea.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Thank you.