Netanyahu applauds Israel’s economic successes in past decade

Netanyahu takes the Knesset podium.

He is recalling two “moving” visits to synagogues, in Vilna — where his family is originally from — and the Golan Heights.  The prime minister says he was moved by the Vilna visit, “where the walls screamed” and remembered the Jews of the community who were slaughtered in the Holocaust.

“I stood there and said, ‘We are here, we’ve come back. Grandpa, I’ve come back to Lithuania as prime minister of Israel,'” he says.

The second is in Ein Keshatot, an ancient synagogue restored in the Golan Heights, which Netanyahu hails as a testament of longstanding Jewish sovereignty in Israel.

“Look what we’ve accomplished in the past decade,” he continues.

Unlike the “stagnation” of other developed countries in the past 10 years, Israel has flourished, he says, applauding Israel’s economy and low unemployment rates.

He notes that 4 million Israelis are expected to travel overseas this year, “this is no longer a thing just for rich people.”

“Israelis like to go abroad, but they also like to come home,” he says. “It’s good to live in Israel.”

He also says the past 10 years has seen Israel flourish diplomatically.