“It is my hope that in the 21st Knesset we will remember that the MKs are given a voice so that they may deliver speeches that will be worthy of being included in the next book of speeches,” Speaker of the Knesset MK Yuli-Yoel Edelstein (Likud) said during Monday’s launch of a collection of 70 important speeches that were delivered in the Knesset Plenum over the years.
 
“Grandiose things were done following the speeches presented in the book, such as wars and peace, and also many things which affect the daily lives of the citizens,” he added.
 
The book features David Ben-Gurion’s speech in which he declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (“…but for the State of Israel there has always been and always will be one capital only - Jerusalem the Eternal”), as well as speeches by Menachem Begin and Moshe Sharett pertaining to the dispute over the reparations agreement with West Germany (Begin: “The actual vote was already cast in Treblinka and Auschwitz where Jews voted in deadly tortures: do not get in touch, do not enter negotiations with the Germans”); Golda Meir’s announcement on her resignation following the Yom Kippur War; Yossi Sarid’s speech in 1979 in which he expressed his objection to the establishment of settlements; Ariel Sharon’s address in favor of disengagement from Gaza and MK Zvi Hendel’s remarks against the move; and Knesset Speaker Shevach Weiss’s eulogy of his friend Yitzhak Rabin.
 
The collection also includes speeches that were delivered during debates on the compulsory Education Law, the National Insurance Law, Project Renewal, and more.
 
The book also contains speeches by poet Uri Zvi Greenberg, author S. Yizhar and industrialist Stef Wertheimer, all of whom served as Knesset members, as well as the historic speech delivered by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who presented his peace initiative, and German President Johannes Rau, who asked for the Jewish people’s forgiveness for the atrocities of the Holocaust.
 
The speeches which appear in the book were selected by a committee chaired by Knesset Secretary Yardena Meller-Horowitz. The committee also included Prof. Esther Meir-Glitzenstein, Prof. Arye Naor, Prof. Ariel Feldstein and Dr. Zvi Zameret. The book was edited by Knesset Museum Director Dr. Moshe Fuksman Shal.    
 
The collection was published as part of the events marking the Knesset’s 70th anniversary.