PM Benjamin Netanyahu. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
In his comments before a meeting with President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu highlighted the pressing need to address the Iranian threat.
By: World Israel News Staff
On Monday, President Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, where the two met in the Oval Office and shared a working lunch.
Netanyahu began his comments by placing Trump’s historic recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in the context of the Jewish people’s history. “The Jewish people have a long memory, so we remember the proclamation of Cyrus the Great, Persian king, 2,500 years ago, who proclaimed that the Jews exiled in Babylon could come back and build our temples in Jerusalem. We remember 100 years ago, Lord Balfour who issued the Balfour Declaration that recognized the rights of the Jewish people in our ancestral homeland,” recalled Netanyahu.
“We remember 70 years ago when Harry S. Truman was the first leader to recognize Israel as the Jewish state and we remember a few weeks ago when Donald J. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” declared Netanyahu.
The Israeli prime minister also devoted significant time to outlining the threats posed by Iran, commenting, “If I had to say what is our greatest challenge in the Middle East to both our countries, to our Arab neighbors, it’s encapsulated in one word: Iran. Iran has not given up its nuclear ambitions. It came out of this nuclear deal emboldened, enriched.”
Netanyahu continued, “[Iran is] practicing aggression everywhere, including on our own borders. And I think we have to stop this country that chants, ‘death to Israel, death to America.’ Iran must be stopped. That is our common challenge.
Netanyahu closed on a hopeful note, expressing optimism that Israel and the US can “exploit the opportunity for peace, because the Arabs have never been closer to Israel; Israel has never been closer to the Arab states. And we seek also to broaden that peace to the Palestinians.”
Netanyahu said Israel’s policy should focus on preventing threats rather than responding after attacks occur.
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