Following is an excerpt from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s remarks, Wednesday evening the eve of 14 Sivan, at the Knesset, at the joint Knesset-US Congress event marking the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem:

“It’s a pleasure to address you from Jerusalem, the eternal undivided capital of the Jewish State of Israel.

Why do I say Jerusalem will never be divided again? Because I remember what it was like when it was divided.

The first thing is we ensured that Jerusalem was a free city for all. That’s the first thing that we did. We made sure that the holy sites of Judaism, of Christianity and Islam were available to all.

This is something that can be appreciated in retrospect, because, look around us. Understand what would happen to this, it’s not even a square kilometer. What would happen to this less-than-a-square-mile if we weren’t here? It would descend into horrible sectarian violence. It would descend into the worst barbarism that the world has seen since the outrages of World War II. We’ve seen Mosques blown up, churches blown up, synagogues blown up.

But we don’t see that. We see that in this great convulsion that is taking place around us, there is one free city where Christians, Jews and Muslims are free to worship undisturbed, and that’s in the free united city of Jerusalem. And that’s how it will stay.

We are deeply, deeply indebted to you, our American friends, for supporting us. We know that you understand in substance and in spirit our quest for redemption. We know that you understand that the story of Israel, in many ways, the rebirth of Israel and our return to this land and to this city, I think you understand in your hearts, that this is a parable for all humanity. Because if the Jews can overcome the worst travails in history, that means there is hope for all humanity.

I want to thank you for this brilliant gesture and I want to tell you once again, America has no better friend than Israel, and Israel surely has no better friend than the United States of America.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO)