Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun / File.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly believes the old Zionist adage, “If you will it, it is no dream.”

“What I’m about to say may surprise you coming from the prime minister of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a video message on Thursday.

“But I categorically state: Iranians are among the most gifted and successful people in the world,” the Israeli leader continued.

Explained Netanyahu: “Of course, there’s one catch — when they leave Iran. You see, in Silicon Valley, entrepreneurs of Iranian heritage are among the founders and CEOs of Uber, Ebay, Dropbox and many other outstanding companies. The Iranian people are brilliant. They’re innovative.”

Netanyahu went to ask, “So why is Iran so poor? Why is unemployment so rampant?”

He said the answer was “in two words: the regime. Iran’s dictators plunder the country’s wealth. Isn’t it a shame that Iran doesn’t invest in its people? Instead, they divert tens of billions of dollars to their nuclear program, to the spread of terror around the world, to their aggression throughout the Middle East. Meanwhile, the Iranian people are the ones that suffer.”

Netanyahu added he looked “forward to the day when the Iranian people don’t need to go to Silicon Valley, don’t need to go there to build the most successful companies in the world. Imagine Iranian and Israeli entrepreneurs working together, in Iran and in Israel, for the betterment of all humanity. That’s my hope. That is my vision. And that can be our future.”

Watch Netanyahu’s message below: