Left to right: AJC President E. Robert Goodkind, Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert, AJC Executive Director David Harris

September 5 2006 – Jerusalem – “You have always demonstrated solidarity and friendship with Israel,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, welcoming the American Jewish Committee Solidarity Mission to Israel.

Olmert, who broke away from budget meetings in order to speak to the large AJC delegation at his office, reviewed the developments that led to Israel’s military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and explained why he is convinced, notwithstanding the post-war debate in Israel, that Hezbollah indeed was weakened, and over the long-term Israel’s security situation will improve as a result of the war.

“The situation in Lebanon is changed forever,” said Olmert. “For the first time in 35 years the Lebanese army is down south, the Hezbollah is hiding.”

The second main result of the war, he continued, is “the world today is more awakened to the dangers coming from Iran.”

For more than ten years Hezbollah was allowed by the international community to acquire significant amounts of rockets, and other sophisticated advanced weaponry, from Syria and Iran, “preparing to strike at a time to be determined by Iran,” said the prime minister, adding his hope that the international community will act to stop the Iranian threat.

Olmert said that after Hezbollah crossed the northern border, killed several Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two, as well as fired rockets, “I felt it was time for Israel to face it, to change the equation so that we won’t have to face it again.”

The prime minister was emphatic that Israel’s deterrence capability remains strong. “When you attack one Israeli, you attack the entire country,” is the key lesson for the region, said the prime minister.

The meeting yesterday at the prime minister’s office was the opening session of the AJC mission, which brought to Israel more than 120 AJC members across the U.S., as well as several U.S. Christian leaders, a former deputy prime minister of Sweden, and Jewish students from Europe and Latin America. This is the second AJC Solidarity Mission to Israel since the war broke out in mid-July.