Netanyahu With Paula White: "We Cherish Our Christian Friends" | WATCH
Prime Minister Netanyahu attended a faith-based event together with the White House Spiritual Adviser in Jerusalem. Here's what he said there.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech today at a Christian faith event in Jerusalem, attended by White House Spiritual Adviser Paula White.
Watch:
Here is the full speech:
"Thank you Joni, thank you Daystar, thank you Paula, thank you ambassadors and the many friends of Israel in the Christian world.
"This is the city and the land where it all began. The Judeo-Christian tradition that promoted the belief in monotheism, a single God, that developed the idea of the sanctity of life, the sanctity of individual life, the idea of freedom. In an ancient world that was swamped with massive slavery to build these ancient empires, the Jewish people came out with the idea that slavery should be limited and ultimately removed. This was revolutionary.
"The beginning of the idea of freedom began in this land. And that idea spread throughout the centuries and especially in modern times, and changed the world. It gives hope to the world. It gives meaning to our lives. It gives a bond between the world's greatest democracy, the United States of America, and the world's vibrant democracy here in Israel. And that's a partnership that is bonded in faith, in history, in tradition.
"I had the great privilege of being invited to speak at the joint session of the American Congress. And I look on the wall and I see a quote from Moses. That's our common tradition, our common wellspring. We're immersed in the Bible. We live the Bible. We have a future because we have a past. And that past is shared by millions, hundreds of millions around the world. And I want to thank you on behalf of the people of Israel and the Jewish people for that enduring friendship. Which is the mainstay of our present and future ability to live in a free, prosperous and peaceful world.
"But that bond is being challenged today. It is being challenged today by a fanatic fundamentalism, an Islamist fundamentalism that seeks to subjugate all Muslims, that they view as infidels, eradicate the American and obviously the Israeli presence in the Middle East. They call America the great Satan. Israel is the small Satan, perhaps, but it's a small state that's standing in their way. And we fight them. We fight them together as we recently have, with President Trump's leadership and our partnership. And yet we see the effort to break down our bond, in America and other parts of the world. That partnership that promotes Judeo-Christian values, that protects in Israel Christians as nowhere else in the Middle East –that truth is being reversed, put on its head by a campaign of lies.
"Israel is now portrayed as the enemy of Christians. And the enemies of Christians are portrayed as the friends of the United States. Iran – a friend of the United States, an innocent victim. The Muslim Brotherhood, who chant death to America alongside Iran – friends of America. Hamas, these monsters, these monsters who burned babies, raped our women, beheaded our men, and chant death to America – friends of America. Israel has a thriving Christian community, the only thriving Christian community in the broad broad radius of the Middle East, where Christians are not "tolerated", they're cherished. You can light Christmas trees in Nazareth – but in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, when Israel left and the Palestinian Authority came in, the Christian majority shrank from 80% to under 20%, because there was no more Israel to protect them.
"We cherish our Christian friends. We protect the Christian holy sites. Not only the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but in the Galilee, not only in Nazareth but in the Galilee, in Capernaum, where Jesus preached for three years. We uphold and cherish those sites. So Israel, the guardian of Christianity in the Middle East, is presented on American television, by purchased influencers, it's presented as the enemy of Christianity. What folly, what lies. What a travesty of truth.
"So one of the things we have fought now, in the seven-front war, we have an eighth front, and that is the front, and the battle, for truth. And I can think of no one who can carry this battle alongside with us, no one who can do it better than you, on this channel, than you, Paula, and our many Christian friends – we must fight for our common values, we must stand up for the truth. And by standing up for the truth, you stand up with Israel, and you stand with the Jewish people against this abomination of falsehoods. We can win this war exactly as we win the seven-front war. And I thank you for your support.
"I want to address also the ambassadors who are here. Your countries have strong Christian communities and a strong bond with us too. And I want to thank you for your support and the many many millions around the world who have voiced support for Israel during our great battles here. We haven't finished, but we're winning, and we'll continue to win. But the main thing that I want to stress is the importance of winning the battle for truth. And that is a battle that we fought even as we speak now.
"Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza. We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza – otherwise, there would be no Gazans. And what has interdicted the supply of humanitarian aid is one force – Hamas. Again, the reverse of the truth. Hamas robs, steals this humanitarian aid and then accuses Israel of not supplying it. Well, we have enabled the amount required by international law to come in. There are hundreds and hundreds of trucks loaded with tons – so far we've supplied 1.9 million tons of food since the beginning of the war, almost two million tons – and now we have hundreds of trucks that are waiting on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing. And it's international organizations, some of them very well-intended, and it's the UN too, food that they purchased, and we say: go ahead, deliver it. And they say: we can't, because combat is going on. And we say: yes, where we're fighting, we'll continue to fight, but there are safe corridors. You can bring the food to anywhere you want, that is not a problem.
"So we have just announced that formally: here are safe corridors. And the UN has no excuses left. No excuses left. Stop lying. Stop finding excuses. Do what you have to do and stop accusing Israel deliberately of this egregious falsehood. There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza, and I assure you that we have a commitment to achieve our war goals. We will continue to fight till we achieve the release of our hostages and the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities. They shall be there no more. We shall not have any more of these massacres, we shall not have any more of these monstrosities. We stand for human freedom and human life, and that is not commensurate with Hamas or with Iran or other Iranian proxies.
"We have fought this battle together; we shall win it together. And I want to assure you that we have great faith in your faith, and in our faith. We have a common bond. It is strong, it is something that represents the vast majority of Americans and I would say, just about all Israelis, and by the way, Jews and non-Jews alike, because we know that our standing together assures our common future. So I want to thank you on behalf of the State of Israel for everything that you're doing, and as the saying goes, for everything that you will do.
"Thank you all, thank you very much."