On Fox, Sean Hannity got an interview with Bibi Netanyahu. Some choice moments:
HANNITY: And very kiddingly, somebody said, is there any chance that the prime minister has a birth certificate in Hawaii? For those that would like you to run in our upcoming elections.
NETANYAHU: No way. I have a country.
HANNITY: I’m teasing.
NETANYAHU: Well, I’m sure you’re teasing. I have to tell you, I respect America. I grew up and I spent a few of my high school years in Philadelphia. I visited the Liberty Bell many times. I know this bond.
There’s a Liberty Bell, a replica of it right near my office in Jerusalem. And it has an inscription. And the inscription is from the book of Leviticus in the bible. It says, “Proclaim freedom throughout the land.” That’s what we’re about. The greatest democracy in the world and the only democracy in the Middle East. I hope we have other democracies soon. There’s a deep bond there.
And in many ways, I think I lead a country that shares so many values with America….
Well, I was strolling the other day, my American security guards are much more generous than the Israeli security guards.
HANNITY: Those guys have been very tough on me.
NETANYAHU: See, the Americans let me out. They let me out. I could actually stroll. And I said to my wife, you know, let’s go to the Potomac. We walk along the Potomac. And see these extraordinary monuments there. There’s an unbelievable monument for the fallen American soldiers in the Korean War. And there’s a wall there. And there’s an inscription. It says, “Freedom is not free.” You know, it requires, not merely vigilance but the willingness to fight for it, to defend it, which is very true.
And then from there, we walk up — so obviously we identify with that, because God knows we’ve had to fight for our freedom, fight for our very survival in ancient times and modern times, the Jewish people have struggled like no other people. And then we walk up, we walk up the — we see the Jefferson monument, you know, and those timeless words, “We hold that all men are created equal.”
HANNITY: These truths, yes.
NETANYAHU: ”These truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” Yes, and that they are entitled to certain inalienable rights.
And then you go up to the Lincoln Memorial and you’ve got this immortal address, you know, government for the people, by the people.
I’ll tell you why these words resonate so deeply with me and with all Israelis. Because they’re basically Jewish concepts that were originated at the time of the Bible, thousands of years ago. You know, that all men are created in God’s image. That no ruler is above the law. That there should be universal justice. These were revolutionary Jewish ideas that were introduced thousands of years ago when the Earth was ruled by — slave empires. That’s what changed history.
So, we feel a natural infinity to the United States. Some of the founding fathers of the United States said that the language of the United States should be Hebrew. Because this was such a profound, common wellspring of ideas.
America and Israel are alike. Sometimes, I think that we, you know, the fanatic Muslims don’t hate you because of us, you know, they hate us because of you. Because they feel that we represent a forward position of this common free civilization.
And you know something, they are absolutely right.
