Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concludes visit to US, emphasizes cooperation with President Trump on a variety of issues.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded his diplomatic visit to Washington and made a statement before boarding his flight back to Israel.
In his statement, he summed up the visit with US President Donald Trump as “very warm” and noted the main issues discussed in their meeting.
He said, “I am now completing my second visit to the US in two months. This was a very warm visit with my friend President Donald Trump. You could feel the great closeness and friendship between us and it was expressed in the topics we discussed.”
The main topic of the talks was Iran: “We agree that Iran will not have nuclear weapons. This can be done by agreement, but only if that agreement is a Libyan-style agreement. When you come in, you blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under US supervision and with US implementation – that’s good. The second possibility is that it won’t be. Let them just drag out the talks, and then the option is military. Everyone understands this. We discussed this at length.”
Regarding Gaza, Netanyahu said, “We are determined to eliminate Hamas, and at the same time we are determined to bring all our hostages back home. The President looked at me and said to the reporters there: ‘This man is working all the time to free the hostages.’ I hope that by doing so, he has shattered the lie that is being frequently spread in the news that I don’t do what I need to do for them, that I don’t care. I care, and I’m doing it, and we’ll succeed as well.”
Netanyahu also revealed sensitive diplomatic discussions on Gaza: “We talked about President Trump’s vision, because we are currently in contact with countries that are talking about the possibility of accepting many Gazans. It’s important, because in the end, that’s what it should be.”
Another issue that was discussed is Turkey’s activities in Syria. Netanyahu added, “Turkey wants to establish military bases in Syria and that is a danger to Israel. We oppose it, we are working against it. I told President Trump, who is a friend of mine, and also a friend of Erdoğan: ‘If we need your help, we’ll talk to you about it.'”
Finally, Netanyahu addressed the issue of trade between the two countries: “President Trump asked the countries to reduce their trade deficit with the US to zero. I told him: ‘It’s not that hard for us. We’ll do it.’ That is the least we can do for the US and the President who has done so much for us.”
Netanyahu concluded his remarks by saying: “It was a very good visit, a very warm visit, and there are other things you will hear about later.”
