以色列總理兼國防部長本雅明內塔尼亞胡昨晚（2019年9月1日星期日）： “大約一個小時前，我與參謀長和以色列國防軍將軍進行了磋商。我們遭到了幾枚反坦克導彈的攻擊。我們用100枚砲彈作出回應並通過各種方式從空中射擊。我們正在諮詢接下來的步驟。我已經下令我們為任何情況做好準備。我們將決定未來發展的後續步驟。此時我有一個重要的聲明：我們沒有人員傷亡 - 甚至沒有傷痕。

昨天，9月1日星期日/ 1月Elul 以色列總統魯文（Ruvi）里夫林對真主黨導彈擊中以色列北部軍事陣地的安全事態發展作出如下評論： “所有那些企圖傷害我們的人都應該知道我們已經準備好並且願意隨時隨地捍衛以色列公民安全。我們也告訴他們，我們已做好準備，不想表現出我們的準備程度。你應該知道邊界只有在它的兩邊才能安靜。

President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin today, Sunday 1 September / 1 Elul, made the following comment on security developments: "All those who seek to harm us should know that we are ready and willing to defend Israel's citizens wherever they are, without hesitation. We also say to them that we are prepared and do not want to show just how well-prepared we are. You should know that the border can only be quiet if it is on both of its sides."

以色列人的地理位置是處在周圍阿拉伯人當中，其中的伊朗、敘利亞、巴勒斯坦等國家與地區長期以來對以色列進行一系列恐怖級別攪擾，已經形成了嚴重的戰爭挑釁！因為，每年從巴勒斯坦打過來的飛彈就像下雨一樣，有的雖然被以色列攔截系統摧毀，但是攔截不到的就會給以色列人造成生命與財產的嚴重損失！ 大家可以想像一下以色列人在這樣嚴酷的環境裡是怎麼樣生活的？去年，伊朗、敘利亞與巴勒斯坦對以色列發了一千多枚飛彈（伊朗和敘利亞把巴勒斯坦變成了戰爭代理人），給以色列造成嚴重的生命與財產的損失！不但如此，伊朗人消滅以色列的死心還不改，還要繼續製造殺傷力更大的核武器去消滅以色列人，以色列人怎麼會安心呢？ 在生命財產受到嚴重威脅的時候，以色列人不得不選擇奮勇爭戰，下定決心都要堅決摧毀伊朗人的核武器，可是國際上還有一些人不理解以色列，認為以色列是挑釁行為，這不是很荒唐嗎？在整個以色列民族與國家受到挑戰的時候，以色列人怎麼可以不反抗呢？這有何難理解呢？ #以色列 #伊朗 #敘利亞 #巴勒斯坦 #飛彈 #新聞

Attached photo credit: Haim Zach (GPO) Israel President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin , Monday 13 May / 8 Iyar, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Beit HaNasi. At the end of the meeting, the president acceded to the prime minister’s request and granted him a further two weeks to form a government. President Rivlin: “After you presented the need for additional time to complete forming a government, and according to clause 8 of Basic Law: The Government, I hereby extend the time allocated to form a government by fourteen days.” According to Basic Law: The Government the prime minister was allocated 28 days to form the government. The president can grant an extension to this period of up to 14 additional days. #Israel President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin #PrimeMinister Netaniahu #Israel #Israel Government #新闻#INN #IsraelNewsNetwork

照片來源：Haim Zach（GPO） 以色列總統魯文里夫林在5月13日星期一/ 8日（猶太曆）在伊塔爾與以色列總理本傑明·內塔尼亞胡在Beit HaNasi會面。在會議結束時，里夫林總統接受了內塔尼亞胡總理的要求，並再給他兩週時間組建政府內閣。 里夫林總統：“在你提出完成組建政府新內閣的額外時間之後，根據” 基本法“第8條：政府，我特此延長分配給政府的時間十四天。 根據“基本法”：政府總理被分配28天組建新一屆政府內閣，總統可以延長這段最多14天的延期。 #魯文里夫林總統 #內塔尼亞胡總理 #以色列 #以色列政府 #新聞 #INN #以色列新聞網

照片：Amos Ben-Gershom（GPO） 以色列總統魯文（Ruvi）里夫林和以色列國防軍參謀長阿瓦夫·科查維上將，於5月12日星期日/ 7歲時邀請傑出的士兵阿里爾·塞勒姆前往貝特哈納斯，在他感到身體不適之後，親自向他頒發總統的卓越獎。上週四在以色列舉行的第71屆獨立日，Beit HaNasi舉行了儀式。 阿里爾在中央司令部服務，儘管醫療限制，並堅持志願服務於以色列國防軍服務。他在一個機密角色中的非凡服務使他的指揮官建議Ariel在Yom Haatzmaut 5779上獲得總統傑出士兵的認可。 總統感謝Ariel的服務，並說他一聽到儀式上發生的事情，就要求盡快邀請他，以確保他在耶路撒冷的Beit HaNasi有他應得的經驗。“感謝你和許多像你一樣的人，我們的軍隊是多種多樣的，開創性的。你是一個靈感，結識你讓我很開心，繼續作為士兵和人類的榜樣，為了您自己的利益，為了我們所有人的利益。你讓我們都感到自豪！ 阿里爾向參謀長致敬，並感謝總統的榮譽，他的母親告訴總統和參謀長，阿里爾錯過了儀式是多麼失望，他很高興見到他們。 以色列國防軍總參謀長阿瓦夫·科查維上將阿里爾致敬，並熱情地擁抱了他。他感謝塞勒姆家族的成員和與他一起來的阿里爾指揮官，並表示他所提供的服務是所有指揮官的真正自豪感，包括他作為以色列國防軍的指揮官。

Attached photo credit: Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO) Israel President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin and IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen Aviv Kochavi invited outstanding soldier Cpl Ariel Salem to Beit HaNasi , Sunday 12 May / 7 Iyar, to present him personally with the President’s Award for Excellence after he felt unwell during the ceremony held at Beit HaNasi last Thursday, Israel’s 71st Independence Day. Ariel serves in the Central Command and despite medical limitations fought and insisted on volunteering for IDF service. His extraordinary service in a classified role led his commanders to recommend Ariel for recognition as one of the President’s outstanding soldiers on Yom Haatzmaut 5779. The president thanked Ariel for his service and said that as soon as he heard what had happened during the ceremony, he asked to invite him as soon as possible to ensure that he had the experience he deserved at Beit HaNasi in Jerusalem. “Thanks to you and to many like you, our army is varied and ground-breaking. You are an inspiration, and getting to know you makes me very happy. Continue to be an example as a soldier and as a human being, for your own benefit and for the benefit of us all. You make us all proud.” Ariel saluted the Chief of Staff and thanked the president for the honor. His mother told the president and the Chief of Staff how disappointed Ariel was to miss the ceremony, and how excited he was to meet them. IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen Aviv Kochavi returned Ariel’s salute and embraced him warmly. He thanked the members of the Salem family and Ariel’s commanders who came with him, and said the service he gave was a source of real pride to all commanders, including him as the commander of the IDF.

Attached photo credit: Mark Neiman (GPO) President Rivlin spoke at the ceremony closing Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Heroes’ and Martyrs’ Remembrance Day) at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, which this year marks the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. Mayor of Thessaloniki Yiannis Boutaris, Chairman of the World Zionist Organization Avraham Duvdevani, Benny Gantz MK and actress Lea Koenig also spoke at the ceremony. President Rivlin began by saying, “the Warsaw Ghetto fighters - those we were privileged to meet, those who did not get out of there alive and those who have passed away over the years – they were, and still are, heroes. The force of Jewish resistance, fighting for freedom and in the name of life, lifted the spirits of oppressed Jews beset by grief and suffering, death and destruction. The desire of revenge and the daring of rebellion in the heart of the Nazi empire of occupation, the strength to say ‘no more’ left a deep impression on the entire people for generations. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising has come to symbolize Jewish resistance. But the Warsaw Ghetto uprising was not the only revolt, and not the only form of resistance. There was an underground that operated in Sobibor, and the prisoners’ uprising took Treblinka out of action. The Sonderkommando rose up at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and many Jews in ghettos fought and took revenge.” The president added, “Jewish resistance took infinite guises: armed struggle and facing the Nazi enemy, by young people and by grown-ups, by partisans and by those who hid, by those with beards and side-locks, by musicians, doctors, authors and craftspeople. By Jewish soldiers in the United States, in the Red Army, by Jewish girls who stayed with their elderly parents and young siblings, even when they knew what their fate would be.” The president also noted, “for many years, the left and right in Israel fought over memory but today, the perspective of time allows us to try and find the way to remember together. ‘Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished’, we read in Ecclesiastes. No more left and right when it comes to the memory of the Holocaust, no more secular and religious, no more Zionists and non-Zionists, no more Sefardim and Ashkenazim, but one people remembering together, grieving together for its dead, our sons and daughters.” The president commented on the death of the Admor of Kaliv זצ"ל, ‘the Holocaust Admor’ who suffered terribly as an inmate at Auschwitz and dedicated his life to the memory of the victims. The Admor gave voice the spiritual heroism of Jews during the Holocaust and did all he could to honor the memory of its victims. He did not see left and right. In an interview for the Walla website, he said ‘in all the years I have lived here, I have never been a member of any party. I hate the parties, but love all my brothers and sisters who are members of them.’ May the memory of our brothers and sisters, the heroes, be forever bound up in the hearts of the nation and their souls bound up in the bond of life.”

里夫林總統在Kibbutz Yad Mordechai關閉Yom HaShoah（大屠殺英雄和烈士紀念日）的儀式上發表講話，今年是第二次世界大戰爆發80週年。塞薩洛尼基市市長Yiannis Boutaris，世界猶太復國主義組織主席Avraham Duvdevani，Benny Gantz MK和女演員Lea Koenig也在儀式上發言。 里夫林總統首先說道，“華沙猶太人區的戰士 - 我們有幸會見的人，那些沒有活著離開的人和多年來去世的人 ， 他們曾經是英雄，現在仍然是英雄！猶太人的抵抗力量，為自由和生命的名義而戰，解除了被悲傷和痛苦，死亡和破壞所困擾的被壓迫猶太人的精神！在納粹佔領區民眾的心中，復仇的慾望和大膽的反叛，說“不再”的力量給全世界的人民留下了深刻的印象，但是華沙猶太區起義已經成為猶太人抵抗的象徵！華沙猶太區起義不是唯一的起義，更不是唯一的抵抗模式；在Sobibor有一個地下運營，囚犯的起義讓特雷布林卡失去了行動力。 總統補充說：“猶太人的抵抗採取了無限智慧：採用武裝鬥爭對付敵人納粹，不論是年輕人和成年人，游擊隊員以及那些留著鬍鬚的人，他們當中包括音樂家，醫生，作家和工匠；在美國、紅軍中的猶太士兵，與年邁的父母和年幼的兄弟姐妹與猶太女孩，他們知道自己的命運會是什麼！ 總統還指出，“多年來，以色列左翼和右翼都在爭奪記憶，但今天，時間的觀點使我們能夠共同努力尋找記憶的方式。我們在傳道書中讀到，他們的愛，他們的仇恨和嫉妒早已消失了。在大屠殺的記憶中不再左右，不再是世俗和宗教，不再是猶太復國主義者和非猶太復國主義者，不再是Sefardim和Ashkenazim，而是每一個人在一起紀念，為死者，我們追念而悲傷！

照片：Koby Gideon（GPO） 【耶路撒冷消息】：以色列總統魯文里夫林於（2019年4月30日星期二/ 猶太歷25日）在以色列國會舉行的歡迎儀式上受到熱烈歡迎，在那裡他與第20 屆  以色列議會議長Yuli Edelstein 一同審查了議會衛隊的儀仗隊，並且在以色列英雄士兵的紀念碑上獻花圈。 總統在第21 屆  議會特別開幕式上致辭，隨後議會成員宣誓就職，總統在總理及其妻子，最高法院院長及其丈夫，以及代理發言人的陪同下出席。 里夫林總統的講話全文： “能夠在21 世紀以色列議會第一次會議開幕時致詞感到非常榮幸 ，今天於2019年4月30日星期二，25 Nissan 5779.我的朋友，以色列議會議員，以色列同胞。當Levi Eshkol於1963年首次宣誓就職時，Menachem Begin提出了一個今天值得重複的禱告：“這個國家可以獲利，也許人民會受益。” 可能仇恨和誹謗消退，可能相互尊重。願鬥氣和怨恨消失，可能會競爭 - 尖銳，但公平和光榮 - 取而代之。可能會扭曲歪曲，讓真相蓬勃發展。可能會使脾氣暴躁，並可能加深同志關係。可能會消除虛偽，也可能使誠實成倍增加！願結束譴責，並且民間勇氣和思想自由取代他們的位置。我親愛的以色列議員，這是一場艱難的競選活動，我們貶低並被貶低；我們感覺難受了，我們加班加點，以實現合法化，仇恨和執行。現在已經結束，足夠！是時候爬了起來。放下選舉的焦點，清理亂七八糟的東西。政治因素不再是唯一的指導。這不僅是對你的期望，也是每個以色列公民對你，我們的領導者，這所房子的每一個成員的要求和要求。 各位朋友、大家好！ 我 從 前 年 幼 、 現 在 年 老 、 卻 未 見 過 義 人 被 棄 ． 也 未 見 過 他 的 後 裔 討 飯 （選自詩篇37:25）。我有幸為政府和反對派的人民服務。對於將成為反對派的以色列議員，請允許我這樣說：  為反對派人民服務是一種榮幸，這是一項重大的責任。 你們問過要人們的支持，因為你這樣做了，現在你必須證明給你的支持這們看到是合理的。 當列維·埃什科爾宣誓就任首相時，開始 - 當時反對派的常年領導人 - 對他說：'他（Eshkol）必須知道我們希望讓他和他的朋友們反對，這不僅僅是我們的權利，但這是我們的責任，人民將決定。如果人民在下次選舉中給予他們足夠的支持，我們將立即將其視為我們從反對派面對他們的義務，直到人民 信任！ 各位朋友。 在民主選舉中，人民永遠不會錯。民主決定是人民的意志，人民是民主的唯一主權。從反對派中為人民服務的權利是對民主忠誠的證明，是批評和審查的義務，說服是挑戰和責任。 赫魯特的成員知道並記住：要處於反對的沙漠需要領導和耐心，它需要遠見。一個人需要提供一些東西。一個人需要合作夥伴的旅程。作為一個反對派的人，我知道人們需要尊重選舉結果所代表的挑戰。說服和被說服的義務。不要光顧。不要認為人們不知道它想要什麼，沒有“人”或“人是愚蠢的”。絕對不。人們已經決定了，它做出了不同的選擇。 我對所聽到的聲音感到擔憂，那些說“如果我們失去了力量，那麼我這裡沒有任何東西”的人。反對意味著責任和舉證責任落在我身上。正是這些說服者必須出於對主權者（即人民）的深切尊重而表達自己的觀點，直到人們 - 正如開始所說 - 決定不同。這就是許多支持你的人對你的信任，  我們都必須記住，所有坐在這裡的人：沒有反對，就沒有民主。 對於那些組建下一屆政府的人，請允許我這樣說；一個人應該優雅地失敗，一個人應該優雅地獲勝！你不是在反對派，你已經掌握了權力和領導力的鑰匙很長一段時間。因此，你的責任是放棄消滅你的對手，放鬆成為受害者的感覺，並以尊重和愛心管理所有居住在這裡的公民和社區。 看到你卓越的政治成就並理解其重要性，不僅僅是在政治 - 部門方面，而且在於它對整個以色列社會的意義。 我們不希望看到這麼大一部分以色列人民和社會感到並擔心它不僅失去了政治鬥爭，而且已經在這裡失去了地位。 另一個反對派的陣營需要感受到，儘管他們輸掉了戰鬥，但他們並沒有在這個國家失去他們的位置，他們沒有在這個國家失去權利，他們沒有在這個國家失去榮譽。 在很大程度上，作為掌權者，你的責任重在身上。 從這裡開始，我呼籲所有黨派領導人和派系成員，大家將受託在我們所有人的生活中有大影響力：盡你所能製定讓你當選的政策，但是同時看到並尊重失敗方的價值觀和信仰，你認為需要不同的平衡嗎？沒關係， 將您當選的政策變為現實，不僅是您的權利，也是您的責任！但沒有幸災樂禍，沒有幸災樂禍！大家不僅要求你執政，你還需要對親愛的人民，所有部族和組成在自己的土地上的人民，以及你的領導者，有一種主權和責任感！ 以色列議會議員們，今天，有49名新成員取代了他們的位置。我祝你們一切順利，並提醒你們，公眾的目光在你們身上。對那些派你來這裡的人表示崇敬。 不幸的是，正如我已經說過的那樣，這個以色列議會將比以前的議會進步得多。讓我再次表示希望，新的以色列議會和政府將看到女部長和委員會主席，並且在問題本身和向公眾發出信息時，會清楚而強烈地聽取婦女的聲音。 朋友們，即將到來的政府和議會，政府和反對派都面臨著艱鉅的任務：面對各方面的挑戰，面對可能出現的機遇，也要努力加強和發展以色列國的安全和外交地位，並且縮小社會差距！雖然社會經濟政策的主題並沒有在選舉中以極大的聲音提出，但問題將決定我們的船隻在哪個方向航行，正確面對'我們'的戰爭！ 現在是爭取我們共同家園的時候了，在那裡世俗的、宗教的、極端正統的、猶太人和阿拉伯人（是的，他們被稱為阿拉伯人，如果我們說的話，什麼都不會發生），讓大家可以發現自己是平等的。讓我們記住，有人認為我們注定不會共同生活，但是我們注定要共同生活。 我們的社會經濟實力，我們之間以及我們之間的伙伴關係，是我們安全和外交力量的關鍵。我們都對此負責，所有人都坐在這所房子裡。 朋友們，  我不能在不懇求你結束立法機關和司法機構之間的危險衝突的情況下結束我的發言。我希望並祈禱第21 屆  以色列議會將作出歷史性決定，制定“基本法” ： 立法是我們未來憲法的章節之一。我們必須加強權力分立，特別是立法機關和司法機關之間的權力分立，以維護各政府部門的尊嚴和獨立，並結束它們之間的重疊和相互侵蝕。你們，以色列議會的成員，能夠在隔離牆上增添另一個重要的磚塊，保護以色列民主，並確保以色列國繼續蓬勃發展，成為一個猶太民族、民主和猶太國家。 以色列議會在Pesach結束時就宣誓就職了，這個假期標誌著我們作為一個民族從奴隸製到自由的解放。以色列議會像徵著我們的主權，這標誌著以色列人民成為一個國家，是我們國家的自由人民，以色列國！從Pesach到在以色列議會宣誓就職，我們從自由走向自由。 我希望我們所有人，朋友們，我們將配得上這種自由，我們將在自己和我們的土地上感到安全，在我們的道路上得到安全，並且我們將知道慷慨和寬容，因為這樣自由男女。 我榮幸地將本屆會議的舉行交給以色列議會議長，再次當選為以色列議會議員，並宣誓就職，代理髮言人，以色列議員尤利（約爾）埃德爾斯坦的成員，我邀請你宣誓。

Attached photo credit: Koby Gideon (GPO) Israel President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin was received today, Tuesday 30 April / 25 Nissan in an official welcome ceremony at the Knesset, where he reviewed an honor guard of the Knesset Guard accompanied by Speaker of the 20th Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, and laid a wreath at the memorial for Israel’s fallen soldiers. The president addressed the special opening session of the 21st Knesset, after which the members of the Knesset were sworn in. The president, accompanied by the prime minister and his wife, the president of the Supreme Court and her husband, the acting speaker of the Knesset and his wife, then gathered in the Knesset’s Chagall State Hall where they took the traditional photograph with the leaders of the parties elected to the Knesset. President Rivlin’s remarks in full: “It is an honor to open this first meeting of the 21st Knesset, today Tuesday 30 April 2019, 25 Nissan 5779. My friends, members of the Knesset, my fellow Israeli citizens. When Levi Eshkol was first sworn in as prime minister in 1963, Menachem Begin offered a prayer that is worth repeating today: ‘May the country profit, and may the people benefit. May hatred and vilification subside and may mutual respect increase. May vindictiveness and spite disappear and may rivalry – sharp, but fair and honorable – take its place. May distortion be banished and let truth flourish. May hard-heartedness be tempered and may comradeship deepen. May hypocrisy be eliminated and may honesty multiply. May there be an end to blandishments, and may civil courage and freedom of thought take their place.’ My dear members of Knesset. This was a difficult election campaign. We have disparaged and been disparaged. We have distorted. We have worked overtime in the service of delegitimisation, hatred and execration. Now, it’s over. Enough. Time to climb up. To put down the cudgels of elections and to clean up the mess. Political considerations can no longer be the only guide. This is not only what is expected of you, it is what every citizen of Israel demands and requires of you, our leaders, every member of this house. Honorable friends. The people, the sovereign, spoke in the recent elections. ‘I was young and now I am old’ (Psalms 37:25). I have had the privilege of serving the people from the government and from the opposition. To the members of Knesset who will form the opposition, let me say this: It is a privilege to serve the people from the opposition, and it is a great responsibility. You asked the people for its support and because you did that, now you must justify the support given to you. When Levi Eshkol was sworn in as prime minister, Begin – the perennial leader of the opposition at that time – said to him: ‘He (Eshkol) must know that we hope to put him and his friends into opposition, and that is not just our right but it is our duty to do so, and the people will decide. If the people gives them enough support in the next elections, we will immediately see it as our obligation to face them from the opposition, until the people – so we believe – decides differently.’ Honorable friends. In democratic elections, the people is never wrong. Democratic decision is the will of the people, and the people is the only sovereign in democracy. The right to serve the people from the opposition is the proof of loyalty to democracy, it is the obligation to criticize and to scrutinize, and it is the challenge and the responsibility to persuade. Members of Herut know and remember: to be in the desert of opposition requires leadership and patience, it demands vision. One needs to offer something. And one needs partners for the journey. As someone who sat in opposition, I know that one needs to respect the challenge the election results represent. The obligation to persuade and to be persuaded. Not to patronize. Not to decide that the people does not know what it wants, that there is no `people’ or that ‘the people are stupid’. Absolutely not. The people has decided, and it has made a different choice. I am concerned by the voices I hear, of those who say ‘if we have lost power, then there is nothing for me here’. Being in opposition means the responsibility and the burden of proof falls on me. It is the persuaders who have to make their case out of deep respect to the sovereign, which is the people, and until the people – as Begin said – decides differently. That is the faith placed in you by the many people who supported you and we must all remember, all those sitting here: without opposition, there is no democracy. To those who will form the next government, let me say this. One should lose gracefully and one should win gracefully. You are not in the opposition. You have held the keys of power and leadership for a long time. As such, your responsibility is to let up on eliminating your opponents, to let up on the feeling of being the victim, and to govern all the citizens and communities who live here with respect and with love. See your remarkable political achievement and understand its significance, not just in political-sectoral terms, but in its meaning for Israeli society as a whole. We do not want to see such a large section of Israeli people and society feel and worry that it has not only lost a political fight, but that it has lost its place here. The other camp, those in opposition, need to feel that although they lost the battle, they have not lost their place here in this country, that they have not lost their rights in this country, that they have not lost their honor in this country. To a great extent, the responsibility for that falls on you as those who are in power. From here, I call on all party leaders and members of factions who will be entrusted with ministries and decisions that will be felt in the lives of us all here: do everything you can to enact the policies that got you elected here, but at the same time see and respect the values and beliefs of the losing side. Do you believe a different balance is required? That’s fine. It is not only your right but also your duty to make the policies that got you elected to this house into reality. But do it without gloating, without vengeance. You are not only required to govern, you are also required to have a sense of sovereignty and responsibility for this dear people as a whole, all its tribes and components, that sits on its own land, and whose leaders you are. Members of the Knesset. Today, 49 new members take their place. I wish you all success and remind you that the eyes of the public are on you. Perform you duty with reverence for those who sent you here. Unfortunately, as I have already remarked, this Knesset will comprise far fewer women than the previous Knesset. Let me express my hope once again that the new Knesset and government will see women ministers and committee chairs, and that the voice of women is heard clearly and strongly on the issues themselves and as a message to the public. Friends, you face weighty tasks ahead as the incoming government and Knesset, government and opposition alike: strengthening and developing the security and diplomatic standing of the State of Israel in the face of challenges on various fronts and in the face of the opportunities that may present themselves. Narrowing and closing the gaps in our society. Although the flag of socio-economic policy was not raised with great force in the elections, it is the issue that will determine in which direction our ship sails. And finally, the war for ‘us’. Now is the time to fight for our common home where secular, religious, ultra-Orthodox, Jews and Arabs (yes, they are called Arabs and nothing will happen if we say it), right and left, can find themselves equal. Let us remember, we were not doomed to live together, we were destined to live together. Our socio-economic strength, the partnership amongst us and between us, is the key to our security and diplomatic strength. We are all responsible for that, all of those sitting in this house. Friends, I cannot conclude my remarks without pleading with you to put an end to the dangerous clash between the legislature and the judiciary. I hope and pray that the 21st Knesset will take the historic decision to enact Basic Law: Legislation as one of the chapters of our future constitution. We must strengthen the separation of powers, particularly that between the legislature and the judiciary, to maintain the dignity and the independence of each branch of government and to end the overlap and mutual erosion between them. You, members of the Knesset, are in a position to add another vital brick in the wall protecting Israeli democracy and to ensure that the State of Israel continues to flourish as a Jewish and democratic, democratic and Jewish state. Friends. This Knesset is sworn in at the end of Pesach, the holiday which marks our liberation from slavery to freedom, as a people. The Knesset, symbol of our sovereignty, is what signifies the people of Israel becoming a nation, a free people in our land, the State of Israel. From Pesach to swearing in the Knesset, we go from freedom to freedom. I wish us all, friends, that we will be worthy of that freedom, that we will feel secure in ourselves and on our land, secure in the righteousness of our way, and that we will know to be generous and tolerant, as befits free men and women. It is my honor to hand over the running of this session to the acting Speaker of the Knesset, who has been elected once again as a member of the Knesset, to take the oath. Acting Speaker, Member of Knesset Yuli (Yoel) Edelstein, I invite you to take the oath.”