December 16, 2012

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a candle lighting ceremony at the Western Wall that the site “will be ours forever.”

Netanyahu lit Chanukah candles on the eighth night of the holiday on Saturday night at the Western Wall.

“In recent days, I have heard that the Palestinians are saying that the Western Wall is occupied territory. I want to tell them from the closet possible place to the miracle of the jar of oil: The Western Wall has been ours for 3,000 years, and it and the State of Israel will be ours forever,” he said during the ceremony.

Netanyahu reiterated the claim Sunday morning at the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu pointed out that the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas held, with the permission of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, rallies and demonstrations in the West Bank to mark the 25th anniversary of its founding, and during them called for the destruction of Israel and the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem and from every area in the State of Israel.

Netanyahu responded that: “We have been here in Jerusalem not for 25 years; we have been here in Jerusalem for 3,000 years. We have been in the Land of Israel for close to 4,000 years. We have a strong and steadfast national will, the continuous historical consciousness and strength of soul of a people that has struggled for its homeland and knows how to maintain its state.”
 

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