U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu deliver remarks at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem

Transcript

Secretary Blinken Tony welcome to Jerusalem. Your first visit as the Secretary of State I have since we’re running. We had a long discussion, we’re running late so I want to be very brief and speak about three points. The first point is a vote of thanks to President Biden and you for firmly supporting Israel’s right of self-defense. Uh I have to say that uh Secretary Lincoln in a previous capacity in 2000 and 14 when we had another round of engagement against Hamas aggression supported us by having uh iron dome replenishment a quarter of a billion dollars that you personally shepherded through the system very quickly and we remember it and we’re very grateful to you and you are giving meaning to this now again with replenishment of iron dome interceptors that save civilian lives on both sides. Uh and we’re grateful for that too. Uh we too will give meaning to our commitment to our self-defense. If Hamas breaks the calm and attacks, Israel, our response will be very powerful and we have discussed ways of how to work together to prevent Hamas rearmament with the weapons and means of aggression. The second point is uh naturally is Iran. We discussed many regional issues but none is greater than Iran. And I can tell you that I hope that the United States will not go back to the O G J. C P away because we believe that that deal paves the way for Iran to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons with international legitimacy. We also iterated that whatever happens, Israel will always we reserve the right to defend itself against the regime committed to our destruction committed to getting the weapons of mass destruction. For that end, the third point is peace. Uh we need to work together to expand normalization between Israel and Arab and the Muslim world and deep in the peace treaties that we already have. We discussed also how to uh improve the lives and the conditions of the Palestinians, the humanitarian conditions in Gaza uh including the question of the return of our my ideas and two civilians who are there as well as building economic growth uh for Judea Samaria, the West Bank with international cooperation and participation uh for peace itself with the Palestinians. A formal peace. I think President Biden was absolutely correct when he said you’re not going to get peace until Israel is recognized as an independent Jewish state and that is the key. I couldn’t agree more with President Biden and I couldn’t be happier than welcoming you here and your delegation in Jerusalem. We have a lot to work for. Uh we have common goals of peace, security and prosperity. And I look forward to working with you on those in this visit and more so welcome. Welcome. Thank you. Prime Minister. Thank you. Uh thank you very very much. Thank you for hosting us today. Thank you for the very good uh and lengthy conversation. I’m looking forward also to spending some more time with some of our colleagues with Foreign Minister Ashkenazi, Defense Minister guns as well. Later uh with President Abbas uh and other Palestinian leaders. Uh President Biden asked me to uh to come here today really for 44 reasons. First to demonstrate the commitment of the United States to Israel’s security, to start to work toward greater stability and reduce tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem to support urgent humanitarian and reconstruction assistance for Gaza, to benefit the Palestinian people and to continue to rebuild our relationship with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian authority intense behind the scenes, diplomacy led by President Biden, working very closely with um with the Prime Minister helped produce last week’s ceasefire. Now we believe we must build on it. That starts with the recognition that losses on both sides were profound casualties are often reduced to numbers, but behind every number is an individual human being, a daughter, a son, a father or mother or grandparents, a best friend. And as the Talmud teaches to lose a life is to lose the whole world. Whether that life is Palestinian or Israeli, I underscored to the Prime Minister, something that President Biden made crystal clear throughout the violence, the United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks, such as the thousands of rockets fired by Hamas indiscriminately against Israeli civilians for the President. I think as many of you know, this commitment is personal, It runs deep. He’s been one of Israel’s most steadfast supporters For the last 50 years, having worked closely with every prime minister starting with gold um a year and now with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Um as the prime minister mentioned, we had a detailed discussion about Israel’s security needs, including replenishing iron dome will continue to strengthen all aspects of our longstanding partnership, and that includes consulting closely with Israel, as we did today on the on going negotiations in Vienna around a potential return to the Iran nuclear agreement at the same time, as we continue to work together to counter Iran’s destabilizing actions uh in the region. We know that to prevent a return to violence, we have to use the space created to address a larger set of underlying issues and challenges, and that begins with tackling the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza and starting to rebuild the United States will work to rally international support around that effort while also making our own significant contributions, including some that all announced later today. I will work with our partners closely with uh with all to ensure that Hamas does not benefit from the reconstruction assistance. At the same time, we need to work to expand opportunity for Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank, including by strengthening in the private sector, expanding trade and investment and other means. Assistant and investment like these will help foster a more stable environment that benefits Palestinians and also benefits Israelis. Um Prime Minister I had a chance to discuss other steps that need to be taken by by leaders on both sides to set a better course for their shared future. As president, Biden said, we believe that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely to enjoy equal measures of freedom, opportunity and democracy to be treated with dignity. Um We also discussed some of the intercommunal violence that erupted in Israel during the conflict and healing these wounds will take leadership at every level of society, from elected officials, the community leaders to neighbors. And we very much welcome the statements the Prime Minister made and members of his government made, condemning the attacks regardless of whom they targeted in our own country in the United States. We’ve witnessed a shocking eruption of anti-Semitic attacks. As President Biden said just yesterday, they are despicable and they must stop. Um there’s a lot of hard work ahead to restore hope, respect and some trust across communities, but we’ve seen the alternative and I think that should cause all of us to redouble our efforts to preserve the peace and improve the lives of Israelis and Palestinians alike. But Prime Minister again, thank you so much for all the time. Thank you for the very, very good uh conversation. And we look forward to doing a lot of work together. Thank you and thank you and the president for your strong statements against anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-Zionism, but it’s anti-Semitism and you took a bold position, clear position, and we appreciate it. I think all decent people, decent people everywhere appreciate that stance. Thank you. Thank you. Did you discuss lifting no questions, I apologize. There are no questions, just don’t.