Education Minister Naftali Bennett spoke on Thursday at a memorial ceremony for the victims of the 1997 'Island of Peace' Massacre.
Seven students from the AMIT Fuerst School in Beit Shemesh were murdered when a Jordanian soldier opened fire on a group of Israeli schoolgirls at the joint Israeli-Jordanian tourist site in 1997.
"We are a country...with the greatest heroes in the world. Not just heroes who can defend themselves from terrorists, but the heroes of everyday life who are able to stand up the next day after rockets were launched at Eilat and continue as usual, or go on with their daily lives after a missile hits the Golan Heights," Bennett said at the beginning of his remarks.
Bennett continued: "The families of the girls here are the true heroes. There is no assuaging their pain, but there is a life [which they] to continue to live in this land, whose every border is threatened."
"We will pursue peace, but we will pursue it from strength. We will pursue it until our enemies come to us and beg us: Let's stop the fighting. From the Golan, to the border of Eilat and Gaza, we must remain strong against a campaign which could be launched against us at any moment.
"I say here to our neighbors in the north and the south: we do not desire war. But whoever raises his hands against our children will know no pity. If your choice is to prepare for the next round of fighting, our choice will be to live. And we will win."