Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today , at the Palmahim Air Force Base, visited the IDF Shaldag Unit and Unit 669 .
Following are his remarks to the soldiers:
“It is unnecessary to point out that four of the five Hasmoneans fell at the hands of the enemy, and you have lost good friends. We have lost soldiers here. We have lost police officers. We have lost ISA personnel. With their bodies, they blocked the invasion.
We must understand the fight that we are in: We are celebrating Chanukah; let us note that they fought then against a force that, in effect, decided to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth, and to cut the thread of life. They did not succeed. In effect, what we are marking today is the holiday that stopped the cutting of the thread of life for the Jewish people.
We are in the same war today. There is a force here that wants to wipe the Jews and their state off the face of the earth, and we are fighting the same war with the same heroism. This is not an exaggeration or mere words; you know that this is not exaggerated. There is a very painful price, but it is necessary if we want to live here. We decided to live here, in our homeland, in our state, and this requires a continuing battle. I would like to tell you that this battle will continue until victory. It is not going to end; these are not vain words – ‘let’s eliminate Hamas’. There is no alternative.
I want to tell you that the entire world is now sitting in the stands watching, wanting to know who is going to win – us or them. Us or Iran’s axis of evil. By the way, they want this as a war of the axis. Rightly so. We must win and that entails additional effort and sacrifice, and we are all prepared for this. This has united the nation. We will remain united and we will win.
I want to simply salute all of you and really express deep appreciation for what you are doing. Some of this was unfamiliar to me. It has reminded me of very creative and impressive things, and I want to go back and take a deeper look at some of the things I heard here. Continue until, and after, victory. Thank you very much.”
יום קשה וכואב. ממשיכים עד לניצחון. pic.twitter.com/DZCHpOFdXv
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 13, 2023
מדליק הערב נר שישי של חנוכה עם הלוחמים הגיבורים של יחידת שלדג ו-669. עם ישראל מצדיע לכם!
(צילום: קובי גדעון, לע״מ) pic.twitter.com/LjHsmzqko5
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 12, 2023
