The following is an excerpt from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s remarks made at the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the new Southern Port of Ashdod on Tuesday 4 Marcheshvan. The prime minister used the event to reiterate his commitment to continue construction in Yerushalayim.

“We will continue to develop seaports in order to lower the costs of goods. We will continue to pave highways and build railroads in order to join the Negev and the Galilee to the center of the country. We will continue to build in Jerusalem, our eternal capital.

“We have built in Jerusalem, we are building in Jerusalem and we will continue to build in Jerusalem. I have heard a claim that our construction in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem makes peace more distant. It is the criticism which is making peace more distant. These words are detached from reality. They foster false statements among the Palestinians. When Abu Mazen incites to murder Jews in Jerusalem, the international community is silent and when we build in Jerusalem they are up in arms. I do not accept this double standard. Just the French build in Paris and the English build in London, Israelis build in Jerusalem. We will continue to build in Jerusalem and we will continue to build in here in Ashdod.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)