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PM Netanyahu Visits Singapore Jewish Community at Maghain Aboth
PM Netanyahu Visits Singapore Jewish Community at Maghain Aboth Synagogue
(Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Monday, 20 February 2017), visited
the Singapore Jewish community, at the Maghain Aboth synagogue. Community
children greeted him at the entrance singing and waving Singapore and
Israeli flags. The prayer for the State of Israel was read.
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
“I bring to you greetings from our eternal capital Jerusalem and I bring you
greetings from a kindred nation. And I feel that Singapore and Israel are
kindred nations. I find it a special privilege and an honor to be the first
Israeli Prime Minister to make an official visit to Singapore. This follows
the visit of Premier Lee to Israel, the first official visit of the Prime
Minister of Singapore to Israel and it’s an obvious bond, a growing bond.
70 years ago if you looked at Israel and you looked at Singapore, there
wasn’t much to see. But there’s a lot to see and it’s not I think accidental
that our two nations formed this bond between us because we are both
inspired to do things, to punch above our weight. Israel is the innovation
nation, we’re both entrepreneurial centers. We have innate talent and we
have great drive to succeed.
I believe that great powers around the world look at Israel and Singapore
today and see tremendous economic opportunities. Tremendous. And one reason
that that is the case is that we have an unbridled spirit and we put it to
use. That spirit is something that we’ve enshrined in our peoples for a long
time, for a long time. The Jewish people have passed learning from one
generation to another, an inquisitive mindset and the ability to produce new
things.
I don’t have to say that to the Jewish community in Singapore because you’ve
been here for almost two centuries and you have that entrepreneurial quest
for many, many decades and I think that you serve as a human bridge between
Singapore and Israel. I know that you care for the State of Israel. I know
you care for Jewish traditions. This gathering is an indication of that
concern and that passion.
I also want to point out to you that I recently visited two Muslim
countries, one is Azerbaijan and the other is Kazakhstan. And in those
Muslim countries, in Kazakhstan I visited a synagogue. And Jewish children
in Kazakhstan were singing Hebrew songs, as they sang here, in a Muslim
state and that reflects the kind of world we’d like to see: a world of
tolerance; a world of diversity; a world that is opposed to the world that
is being challenged today by the forces of barbarism and intolerance. This
is a battle for the future of humanity. That future is represented in
Israel, which also is a diverse country, which also has minorities, which
respects peoples. And we see that same respect here in Singapore. So it’s
not only that we’re both innovation nations, it’s not only that we’re small
people and have defied the limitations of our size. It is that we are
committed to a better world, a world of diversity, a world that follows the
values that we as a people have held for so many years, for so many decades
and in fact, for a millennium.
It is therefore for me a tremendous pleasure to be here and I want to ask
you, all of you, a simple question: Who of you has not been to Israel? No
shown hands. All of you have been to Israel? Then I have one request of you,
come again. I want a reciprocal visit this year. This year in Jerusalem, I
look forward to meeting you there.”
Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=72208
