Netanyahu's televised speech to AIPAC

Although the prime minister was unable to attend AIPAC in person, he was able to broadcast a televised speech to them:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the AIPAC policy conference from Israel Tuesday.

Netanyahu had been scheduled to speak at Israel live in Washington DC. However, he flew back to Israel following the rocket attack on the town of Mishmeret which destroyed a home and injured seven people Monday morning.

The prime minister began by addressing Israel's ongoing military response to the rocket fire from Gaza. "We are prepared to do a lot more. We will do what is necessary to defend our people and to defend our state."

He praised the bipartisan support for Israel by both Republicans and Democrats, saying that that bipartisanship is "the way it should always be."

Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump for signing an official order recognizing Israel's sovereignty on the Golan Heights.

"Yesterday, at the White House, President Trump again made history. He formally recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Now that decision deserves enormous applause," he said.

"The Golan Heights is indispensable for our defense. It's part of our history. When you put a shovel in the ground there, what you discover is the ruins of ancient synagogues. Jews lived there for thousands of years and the people of Israel have come back to the Golan. Israel holds the high ground, and we shall never, ever give it up. It's part of Israel," the prime minister said.

Netanyahu also thanked President Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, and withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

He also spoke out against Ilhan Omar:

In a jab at Rep. Ilan Omar, Netanyahu said: "Take it from this Benjamin, it’s not about the Benjamins."

"The reason the people of America support Israel is not because they want our money, it’s because they share our values. They just don’t' get it. It’s because America and Israel share a love of freedom and democracy. It's because we cherish individual rights and the rule of law. It's because we don’t judge people by the color of their skin, their religion or their sexual orientation.

"I am proud of Israel’s vibrant democracy, where no one – no one – is a second-class citizen. All of Israel’s citizens are first-class citizens. All of Israel's citizens whether Jew or Arab, Muslim, Christian, or Druze, have exactly the same individual rights. We vote in the same elections. We’re subject to the same laws. We study in the same universities. And we are also treated in the same hospitals.

"But Israel is also the one and only country on earth in which the Jewish people exercise our collective right of self-determination. And that right is expressed in the Star of David that is on our flag, in the Hatikvah that is our national anthem, in Hebrew our official language and most powerfully, in the right of every Jew across the world to automatically immigrate to Israel and become a citizen if they choose to do so.

"It is these features of our collective existence that the Nation State bill enshrined into an historic constitutional law. And contrary to the false attacks and allegations, it did not denigrate any individual rights, which remain sacred and equal for all our citizens. And it will always be that way.

"Israel will always be a democracy, just as Israel will always be the Jewish State, a place where all Jews anywhere can always call home, no matter how they pray or how they wish to conduct their lives. Israel is the home of all Jews.

"That is why we all celebrate today the democratic, Jewish State of Israel. We know the truth," he said.

It's a good thing he brought up the topic of Omar, because the Democrats themselves are already causing enough problems through their refusal to expel her from the party, along with Rashida Tlaib. And overall, it's good he was able to address the AIPAC conference after all, even if it was from long distance.