At ceremony opening Knesset Museum, Herzog says Israel has ‘always strived for peace with Palestinians’

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and other dignitaries gather in Jerusalem to inaugurate the new Knesset Museum at Beit Froumine on King George Street in central Jerusalem. The building served as the headquarters of Israel’s parliament in 1950-1966.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, President Isaac Herzog says that recognizing a Palestinian state would be a “grave mistake” and a “reward to terror,” in response to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent announcement.

Herzog asks what the Knesset members of old “would have said about the Australian prime minister’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state.”

“I have no doubt what [David] Ben-Gurion and [Menachem] Begin, who were on opposite sides of the aisle, would have said together, and I too say here emphatically to the whole world: Israel has always strived, and will always strive, for peace with our neighbors including the Palestinians. When Israel fights cruel terror, it does so for the sake of peace and for the sake of the free world,” says Herzog.

“These declarations, by Australia and other countries, are a reward for terror, a prize for the enemies of freedom, liberty, and democracy. This is a grave and dangerous mistake, which will not help a single Palestinian and sadly will not bring back a single hostage,” he adds.

In a statement ahead of the ceremony, Ohana says the new museum is in “a building of national and historical significance in the history of the Jewish people, where laws were enacted, speeches were delivered and debates were waged that shaped the character of the Knesset and the State of Israel.”