"Dimona was a forgotten town. There was a need to close and destroy everything", said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Negev Conference 2026, held today (Tuesday) in the southern city. "There were hundreds of apartments here with cockroaches and bugs. They became a health nuisance and then our governments arrived and everything turned around. I want to eliminate the term 'periphery' in the State of Israel. This is the vision and it is being implemented: go outside, look at the towers, the roads and the train."

However, this is not the first time Netanyahu has expressed aversion to the term "periphery". In fact, over the past 20 years he has chosen to mention the term he hates on countless occasions. Thus last year, when he inaugurated the Assuta Hospital in Be'er Sheva, he promised to abolish the term - as he had already done in 2005 in Karmiel, in 2008 ahead of the elections, in 2013 in Tiberias and many other times.

"We have added thousands of housing units (in Dimona) and Israelis are voting with their feet. At the beginning of the year I conducted a comprehensive tour in the western Negev in parallel with the great task of combating nationalist crime. I am trying to bring the Shin Bet as well and we are encountering problems", he said - and hinted through the audience that the justice system is creating difficulties. He detailed the list of southern settlements he visited, even during the recent war with Iran, and revealed: "We also visited the textile factory today." This while his wife Sara Netanyahu joined his visit to Dimona.

He added: "Near the Bedouin settlement Bir Hadaj, I met in Tamirim (non-existent settlement) young women who reminded me of the pioneers. Filled with great spirit of love for the land. With my wife I also visited Nir Oz this year and said we would restore the kibbutz hit on October 7 several times over. Together the Negev wins. The Gaza envelope area experienced a leap. You said 'you dismantled', you said 'you did not handle', but new residents are coming and joining. It is growing and our enemies in Gaza see it. I was also in Meitar (the settlement Meitar is not a kibbutz), also in the Negev. I joined the funeral of Rani Guaily there."

"We are strengthening our hold on our borders. This means one thing. Where is the Gaza envelope? Inside Gaza. Lebanon envelope? Inside Lebanon. Golan envelope? Inside Syria. This is a new approach. The army is not good at statesmanship, that is the role of statesmen. We have led the country to a path of action and not containment. This is a polar change. It has changed not only the face of the Middle East but also us. We have lowered the barrier of fear. I will tell the leaders of Iran: do not count on it being quiet if you attack us. Do not count on it being a repeat broadcast. Because it will not be a repeat broadcast, and it was powerful enough. It will be another broadcast - much more powerful. The days are over when someone hurts us and we do not strike him with a blow to the face. We did this to the axis of evil in Iran and will continue to do so to anyone who harms us. This is how we do it."

Later, Netanyahu again promised to bring the "bullet train" from Eilat to Kiryat Shmona - as he has done several times also in his previous term, but never started the project. "I ask you to tell your friends what we are doing. If they ask the media channels they will say 'abandoning the Negev', 'leaving the Negev', but look around you, look in your settlement. I do this with love. As a soldier I would travel here, arrive at Masmiya junction and travel for goats. It took hours to reach the periphery."