“Speak Up. Stand Up. Fight Back,” Netanyahu Tells Surfside Synagogue

Hundreds of people packed the Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, Florida, on Wednesday to hear Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver a forceful address focused on strength, resolve, Jewish history, and the current war. The appearance marked Netanyahu’s first visit to South Florida as prime minister and his fifth trip to the United States this year.

The event drew senior Israeli and U.S. officials, including Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon, Israel’s Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis, and Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter, alongside Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, Sen. Ashley Moody, and Rep. Carlos Giménez. The appearance was accompanied by extensive security measures and widespread traffic disruptions across Surfside and parts of Miami Beach. Roads were closed for hours, police and federal security forces were deployed around the synagogue, and long lines formed outside as attendees waited to enter under tight security protocols.

Netanyahu opened the core of his remarks with a direct call to action for American Jews in the face of antisemitism. The last thing you should do before antisemitic attacksis lower your head and seek cover,” he said. “That’s not what you should do. You should stand up and be counted. You should fight back.” He sharpened the message further, saying “you should delegitimize your delegitimizers,” Netanyahu said. “Nobody will fight for you more than you fight for yourself.”

From there, Netanyahu tied Israel’s security and prosperity to the need for strength. “Unity, strength and resolve, that’s what makes the difference,” he said, returning repeatedly to the idea that power and cohesion are prerequisites for peace. “It’s peace through strength,” he said. “It’s prosperity through strength.” He added, “When Israel is strong, others want to partner with us. You stand up and be counted, and you will see the difference. Don’t be afraid.”

Netanyahu then turned to Jewish history, describing its central tragedy of history being “exiled from our land.” “We lost strength, unity and resolve, and the consequences were horrific.” He continued: “We were expelled from land to land, we suffered pogroms, we suffered massacres, culminating in the greatest massacre of them all: the Holocaust, in which a third of our people were lost.”

Turning to the present, Netanyahu said “I say to the entire world: Never again,” he said. “Never again was last year, in which we demonstrated to the would-be destroyers of Israel, we shall destroy you. You shall not destroy us.” 

Addressing the current war, Netanyahu said he pledged early on that Israel would change the Middle East. “On the second day of the war, I said that Israel would change the face of the Middle East,” he told attendees. “It was the bravery of our soldiers, the resolute stance of our people and the correct decisions that we took in the government that changed the face of battle and changed the face of the Middle East.”

Netanyahu also addressed the issue of hostages in Gaza, referring to the body of the last remaining hostage, Ran Gvili. “We shall return him and we’re working on it right now,” he said. “He shall be back. The first one in, last one out, but he’ll be back.”

A significant portion of the address focused on Israel’s relationship with the United States and American leadership. Netanyahu praised U.S. President Donald Trump, saying, “President Trump has been unflinching, consistent. He never wavers.” He added, “His instinctive support for the State of Israel, his understanding of what is right and what is just.” Netanyahu said the alignment between Washington and Jerusalem had tangible consequences. “That’s been there from day one, and we have shown what happens when the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel have no daylight between them: Wonderful things. Wondrous things can happen.”

After the event concluded, protests were reported roughly a block away from the synagogue. No disruptions to the gathering itself were reported, and the visit ended without incident as Netanyahu continued his U.S. trip.