In a Rosh Hashana interview with the Jerusalem Post, PM Netanyahu spoke about what is hopes are, where he thinks the country will be next year at this time:
"I hope to move forward with genuine negotiations for a genuine peace. But I think the experience of Israel has shown that the best guarantor of our future is that we build our country. That we build our country, build our society, build our defenses, educate our children – continue to develop the State of Israel.
We have always wanted peace with our neighbors from day one. It took many decades to reach it with the Egyptians and Jordanians. We didn’t wait to build our country until that peace was achieved. We are not waiting now.
We are crisscrossing Israel with a network of fast roads and rail, we are revamping our education system, we have salvaged the higher education, we are building the security fence in the South, we are introducing competition into markets that have been closed and rigid in every area. We are working on the environment, the health system and above all we have a very, very sturdy economy. We have introduced economic reforms that have created tremendous resilience of the Israeli economy so that it stands out right now compared with virtually all economies of the Western world.
Israel is in a unique place because we have had the right polices to give ourselves economic strength; military strength, which depends on the economy; and of course spiritual strength by stressing the general Jewish values that are now being taught in our schools.
We have a lot more to do, but I think that as we approach the new year, we can say we have done a great deal and will continue in this path. That is the message I have for the coming year: we have to continue to fortify the state of Israel. That is the best guarantor of the future and ultimately the best guarantor of peace. You don’t make peace with the weak, you make peace with the strong."
