Honorable Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana,
Ministers,
Members of the Knesset, past and present,
And distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I hope that next year we will overcome all obstacles and reach understandings. Understandings can be reached with goodwill if it exists. It certainly exists on my part. And I say from our side that we want to reach those understandings that have guided the State of Israel for decades. There have been no lack of sharp disagreements, but we knew that we were operating within a democratic framework, and I will elaborate on this. I think this has been eroded. A large part of the nation laments this, cries out about it. We need to find a way to restore the balance between the three branches of government. This, alongside majority rule, is the key to the existence of democracy. The way to protect individual rights alongside the will of the majority, and the way to ensure that no one branch oversteps another. This balance existed here, and this balance, with God’s help, will return here.

I must tell you that a few months ago I had the opportunity to take a journey through time – a journey through time to the early years of the Knesset, at the Knesset Museum here in Jerusalem.
Mr. Speaker, you were with me there, and together we inaugurated with great excitement the new museum in ‘Beit Promin’ on King George Street. This special building served the Knesset for 16 years.
I remember it well from my youth. It stood at the heart of what I call ‘Old Jerusalem’ – divided Jerusalem. Before the Six-Day War, it was small, and curious citizens used to gather there around the building. There was a cafe opposite as well. They would watch the public representatives making their way in and out.
How did they used to say in the early days of the Knesset? ‘The Knesset members’ daily bread – is legislation.’
That’s true. To legislate your own laws means to be master of your own fate – and that is what we do to this day, or at least try to do with success that is being eroded. This is in reference to my opening remarks.

And I had another privilege related to ‘Beit Promin’: when I was Minister of Finance, over 20 years ago, I worked to save this historic property from demolition. We secured funding, ensured its preservation, and paved the way for commemorating the history of the Knesset – as the center of our democracy, where the people – the sovereign – freely elect their representatives.
The Knesset here represents the people. The people elect their representatives here, and their representatives here continue in our parliamentary system – they elect the government.
And also from here, at least this was partially the practice, it used to be – they elected the judiciary.

The Knesset operated in Tel Aviv, and later in Jerusalem, against the backdrop of the War of Independence. The elation of our people – who regained their national freedom after long generations – came alongside the difficult challenge of shaping the state’s order.
Again, one must know this – debates and arguments existed even then. Sometimes these debates were very sharp – no less so than today. I must tell you, I think the style was a bit more refined and ultimately more effective. Here it is more roaring and more turbulent.
But even in the storm of disagreement – no matter the subject – one thing was clear to everyone: ensuring national survival – is the paramount mission.

Israel, from its first day, is a democracy with a sword in its hand. We are surrounded by enemies. Dangers lurk around us. Tyrannical forces, who do not reconcile themselves with our existence, seek to place a noose around our necks. And precisely against this backdrop – Israeli democracy maintains its resilience and stability.
Israel is one of the strongest democracies in the West. You might say not perfect. Is there a perfect democracy? Is there such a thing? Is there a democracy as challenged as ours? I don’t know of another democracy that stands up to such frequent – and such significant – tests as the State of Israel.

So yes: I said the Knesset is seething and roaring, sometimes even shouting. And I, to the extent it depends on me, would not tell you let’s moderate the debate. Let’s moderate the language of the debate, that’s at least how I try to act. But in my opinion, this is less important, and I will tell you why. Such a Knesset is always preferable to parliaments where elected officials are forbidden to open their mouths and the public’s mouth is silenced through the media. That is the end of democracy. It is also to be elected, and to have the freedom to speak and the freedom to think. That is the basis of democracy.

In this house, we have disagreements on fundamental issues. Disagreements on the path, on ideology, on vision. These differences of opinion are not a flaw in democracy. They are an advantage in democracy, they are the essence of democracy.
It’s not that everyone sits together, everyone agrees. No, not at all. Different opinions must be presented to the public – and the public decides. Where does it decide – at the ballot box.
And if there are disagreements here, either the majority decides or something else is done – compromises are reached, understandings are reached. That is how I hope and wish, and to the extent possible, I will act, to bring about these understandings on the fundamental issues related to the balance between the branches of government.

Israel is a parliamentary democracy. We operate according to the basic, most essential principle of democracy – majority rule – while simultaneously protecting individual rights.
This equilibrium, and I will say this once more and countless times until it is ingrained – this equilibrium can only be achieved in one way – through checks and balances between the branches: the legislative branch, the executive branch, the judicial branch. Each branch – and its authority, each branch – and its role. And I want to clarify – there is no ‘super-government’ in a democracy. There is an elected government, and each branch has a role, and each of them must have at least some gears or cogs in the other branches.
This was the case at the dawn of Israel’s independence – this is how it should be today.

Unfortunately, there are people who think that the greatest danger to democracy is democracy itself, and therefore the will of the majority must be neutralized. ‘So what if you were elected?’ The Knesset, the government… excuse the expression – ‘Who are you? There are those chosen from the people – we will decide.’
Perhaps Plato thought this in Athens, when he abolished democracy, because he saw the disaster of his beloved teacher Aristotle, and this idea evolved over the generations and reached the modern era.

And when they said ‘there are those chosen from the people’ and went to America, to George Washington, he was chosen from the people by the way, he was over 1.90 meters tall. And his tyrants told him, ‘We had a king.’ He dismissed them all. ‘But you are chosen from the people,’ he said, ‘there is no such thing.’ Then three truly brilliant men, chosen from the people: Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton, wrote the American Constitution. Then they were told, ‘Perhaps we should create a caste chosen from the people here, and they will decide for the others.’
They dismissed them all, down all the slopes, all the stairs, and all the cliffs, these geniuses. They said, ‘There is no such thing. There are checks, there are balanced checks.’

The essence of democracy is majority rule with checks and balances, to ensure individual rights. The essence of democracy is not the abolition of democracy. The greatest danger to democracy is the abolition of democracy. And it can be brought back to the right track because it existed here, it existed here a few decades ago. With judges whose integrity no one questioned. I don’t mean personal integrity specifically, sir, I’m not talking about that.
There was an understanding that each branch had its part, no one overstepped or was overstepped, no one came to trample or to be trampled. I think this can be restored, and again, to the extent possible, to the extent that I can do so legally, I will do so, because it is necessary. We don’t need to go from here to there, there was a middle way, there was a golden path, Israel walked it for decades, and we will return to it.

Distinguished guests, Israel emerged from the ‘War of Independence’ stronger than ever. We are a regional power that is constantly strengthening – in some areas, we are touching upon global superpower capabilities. Our democracy too – which has known immense pressures – has been tempered during the war. We made fateful decisions: decisions that are changing the face of the Middle East before our eyes. I can tell you that despite the constraints – I made sure to attend every important discussion in the Knesset. Many times, I saw in the stands, and I say this to the dear audience here – I saw the families of the hostages right before my eyes – both the living hostages and the fallen. And many times, I promised from this podium that we would bring them all back – and so we did. We returned all the hostages, down to the last one!

During the months of the war, world leaders spoke in the Knesset – first and foremost President Trump, the President of the United States. And there were other speeches that touched our hearts deeply as well.
The President of Paraguay, Santiago Peña. The President of Argentina, Javier Milei. The Prime Minister of Albania, who visited us last week, Edi Rama. Each of them delivered wonderful speeches to this audience. At least my heart was very happy to see that we were united. Both the opposition and the coalition, everyone stood as one to honor these people who honor us, our country.
Everyone without exception – and like them, many other leaders – all praised Israel’s resilience and our brilliant achievements on the seven fronts.

As a powerful democracy, we stood against the ‘axis of evil’ – and we overcame it. Our heroic soldiers and commanders bravely defended our home, our freedom, from Iran and its terrorist proxies. We exacted a heavy, very heavy price from all those who inscribed the destruction of Israel on their banner.
And again, I always say, and I think it is clear to everyone – there are still challenges ahead of us, test moments await us. But we are alert and prepared for any development, we are monitoring events, and we are prepared for any scenario.
Whoever attacks us will bear consequences that are unbearable for them.

The British journalist Douglas Murray, a great friend of Israel and the West, recently wrote a book. He called it: “The War on the West” – Democratic Israel standing against the death cults of radical Islam led by Iran. And Murray says that Israel is defending the future of civilization. He writes: “Canada, Britain, Europe, Australia, or the United States, would be lucky if they could raise a generation like the one Israel has raised.”
This is so true. Anyone who goes out into the field, anyone who meets our soldiers. Whether in Gaza, or in Lebanon, or in Judea and Samaria, or anywhere else, understands what a wonderful generation we have raised here, what a mighty generation. “The TikTok generation,” we called it, not at all. A generation of heroes, a generation of victory, a generation that will be recorded in the annals of our nation for generations to come.
‘And you shall choose life’ – is one of the most important commandments of the Jewish people. This is the basis for humanity’s victory,” writes Murray.

Distinguished guests, Members of the Knesset,
In the past year, I met with President Trump 6 times, and at one of these meetings, I had a very moving experience. Because he took me to his room, to the bedroom of President Abraham Lincoln, which has not changed since the day he was assassinated.
Lincoln, as you know, saved the USA in the Civil War. And he left us the democratic commandment. This is something I try to instill here not only in this speech, but at every opportunity, one must understand it. ‘What is democracy?’ he said, it is “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

On another occasion, during our last visit, my wife and I visited the historic home of the third president, Thomas Jefferson, in Virginia. Jefferson drafted the US Declaration of Independence, whose foundation is the will of the people.
One cannot help but feel reverence for these giants of democracy – Jefferson and Lincoln. But precisely there, precisely in the halls of democratic heritage of the great USA – I thought about our small and brave democracy, here in Israel.
We draw inspiration from American democracy, and at the same time, America draws inspiration from us. In the War of Independence, we together made decisive and brave decisions, whose purpose was to eradicate evil, to ensure the supremacy of good.

We stuck to our path, we did not succumb to pressure, we fought against countless lies and slanders hurled at us. The IDF – ‘the people’s army’ – and with it the security forces, acted with unity of purpose.
We brought all our hostages home. We returned our economy to its track. It is currently ranked as one of the three most dynamic economies in the world, after two years of war. We continued to build our country relentlessly. On the holiday of the Knesset of Israel – which expresses the revival of Israel in the Land of Israel – we will continue to work to ensure the victory of Israel.”

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