Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein said, Monday evening, that Jerusalem will remain Israeli forever.
Speaking at ceremonies to open the modern Jewish state's 69th birthday, he said Israelis must preserve the unity of Jerusalem and the unity of the country. He decried divisions within the population. In the 50th year since the reunification of the capital, he said everyone from Metullah in the north to Eilat in the south should think of themselves as Jerusalemites.
Edelstein was joined by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in lighting an Independence Day torch.