MOSSAD DIRECTOR CHANGE OF COMMAND CEREMONY
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Mossad Director Change of Command Ceremony:
"The soil of Belarus has yielded a line of leaders for Israel. Roman, when your foot first stepped onto the Land of Israel at the age of 14, you immigrated with your parents – Ludmila, of blessed memory, and Vladislav, who is here with us today. You immigrated from Belarus straight to the city of Ashdod. You paved your own path with your own two hands. Two hands mean two fists. When Roman arrived, they pounced on him. A foreign child, speaking with a Russian accent – you know what happens with kids. But Roman paved his way with his two hands – his two fists – and was already the national youth runner-up in boxing by the age of 17. Not bad, Roman. A sign of things to come.
Roman, you weathered all the obstacles. You overcame every hurdle on the way to this appointment. And now, you are officially being appointed as the 14th Director of Israel's Mossad. I congratulate you on my behalf and on behalf of the entire nation. Go forth and succeed!
You said: 'Let us win, deploy us!' – I discovered this after I discovered you. I saw the actions before I heard the words. And afterwards, I saw the video. You turned to senior IDF officials in that famous video and said: 'Let us win, deploy us!' And quite a few sat there smiling. Some were even smirking. But you were not deterred. You instilled the spirit of victory into every role you reached.
Roman brought immense value to the role of Military Secretary to the Prime Minister. You demonstrated, and I saw this very quickly, that you possess an impressive capacity for learning, sharpness of thought, a comprehensive view of the campaign landscape combined with an eye for detail, and an extraordinary capacity for resourcefulness – meaning, thinking outside the box, searching for something the enemy hasn't thought of but which constitutes a fundamental vulnerability – resourcefulness, and no less than that, a striving for victory.
The Mossad will continue to stand at the forefront of our struggle against Iran's aggression. In continuation of the consistent policy we have been leading for years – we will not allow the Iranian regime to turn back the clock. We will not allow it to acquire nuclear weapons; we will not allow it to threaten our existence. This terrorist regime, which is destined to vanish from the world, and we will help it reach this goal, this regime will no longer threaten us with nuclear bombs and thousands of lethal ballistic missiles.
This is my directive – and this is your mission! This is your mission, Roman, and that of all the thousands who are here today."
