Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara attended the opening ceremony on Monday for the John Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah University Hospital-Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem.
In his address at the ceremony, Netanyahu recalled his last visit to the center, when it was in its previous location. "I came here two years ago, at the beginning of the war, with Florida congressman and our committee chairman Brian Mast. It was still in the old building. We went from room to room, and it was heart-rending. I've seen some difficult things in my life, on the battlefield. But to see these young heroes who lost limbs, suffered unbelievable pain, and wounds. To see their courage, to see their stamina and hope was so moving that I had to move aside to wipe a tear because it's an inspiration."
The Prime Minister added, "We have won great victories. But they have come at a cost: the cost of our fallen soldiers and the inconsolable grief of their families, and the cost of young men, who on the face of it do not have a future. But that's not what I saw. What I saw is unbelievably committed medical teams, unbelievable treatments. That has now been augmented to the best in the world. The people are the best in the world, but they also need the equipment, and they now have it."
He praised the center as "not just a building. It’s a foundation of hope, it's a foundation of resilience, of tomorrow. That's what I saw in the eyes of these wounded soldiers.":
He shared the inspiration he received from the patients: "They said to me one thing. You know what they said? 'For the state, for our state. Keep fighting, and we'll come back and we'll fight also.' Every single one of them. And I was so deeply moved. And at that point I knew, this is the most underrated generation. This is our great generation. This is something that is the secret weapon of Israel and the true source of our power, the true source of our victory."