Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu took part on Thursday in the unveiling of the new "Promenade" neighborhood in Kibbutz Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion, together with Head of the Regional Council, Yaron Rosenthal.
The neighborhood is part of the expansion of the community, which is expected to double its size within a year.
The Prime Minister and his wife planted a tree together with Noam Leiter, the son of Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, who resides in the Gevaot community in Gush Etzion, alongside Ofri Nir, the daughter of the late Yuval Nir, of blessed memory, who fell in the War of Redemption.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said during the ceremony, "Sara and I are moved to stand beside you - the residents of this place, Yaron Rosenthal, the families, and above all, the bereaved families that are my family, I know you."
He continued, “I will tell you why we are moved. There is a manifestation here of the power of life and the spirit of vitality that resonates within our people. We were expelled from this place before the founding of the State, and we returned to it; we built it, and we continue to build it."
“And this tree - in the beginning, when I was asked to plant a tree in one place or another, I said: ‘Fine, this is a symbolic act’. But as I returned to those places years later - I expected to return as a citizen, but I returned there time and again as Prime Minister. And suddenly I see enormous trees - I saw this just now in Binyamin. I saw this here as well, in one of the communities. But this tree, its treetops will grasp the sky."
Netanyahu noted, “This kibbutz has doubled in size - doubled itself twice within a year. And this is monumental; this is a manifestation of our spirit of vitality and of our sacred mission: to take root in our homeland despite our enemies, despite all the pressures; and to ensure that we are not merely treading over the past of the nation of Israel, but that we are securing its future. This is what we are doing here; this is what you are doing here. You are guarding the past and securing the future. The two are intertwined, because we have no future without our past."
He concluded by saying, “We know this, and you know this. I would simply like to come out, on my behalf and on behalf of my wife, and say thank you. Thank you for what you are doing. And invite us to the Bar Mitzvah of this wonderful tree."
