Secretary Rubio, my dear friend Marco, it’s great to welcome you in Jerusalem with your delegation.  It’s great to welcome you in Jerusalem as Secretary of State of the United States.  I have to say that this visit comes in the wake of a historic visit to Washington.  I said and I am going to repeat it again because it’s so true:  President Trump is the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.  And the visit in Washington reflected that in every way, and your visit here reflects it in every way.

Throughout your political career you’ve been a great supporter of Israel and a great champion of the U.S.-Israel alliance.  I have no doubt that your unwavering support will continue during your tenure as Secretary of State, and I also have no doubt that you will be a voice of clarity and courage on the world stage for the values that we in Israel and you in America hold dear, the values of freedom for all those who cherish liberty.  You’re already doing that and I want to tell that it’s very loud and clear here and everywhere else.

Today, Secretary Rubio and I had a very productive discussion with our staffs on a number of issues.  None of them are more important than Iran.  Israel and America stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering the threat of Iran.  We agreed that the ayatollahs must not have nuclear weapons, and we also agreed that Iran’s aggression in the region has to be rolled back.  Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis.  Under the strong leadership of President Trump and with your unflinching support, I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job.

We also spoke a great deal about Gaza.  I thanked Secretary Rubio for President Trump’s assistance in helping us secure the release of another three hostages yesterday.  These are hostages that Hamas refused to support only a few days – or to release only a few days earlier.  And I also thanked him for America’s unequivocal backing for Israel’s policy in Gaza in moving forward.

I want to assure everyone who is now listening to us: President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us.  We have a common strategy and we can’t always share the details of this strategy with the public, including when the gates of Hell would be opened, as they surely will if all our hostages are not released, until the last one of them.

Israel is determined to achieve all the war objectives we set after the horrific attack on October 7th, the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.  We will eliminate Hamas’s military capability and its political rule in Gaza.  We will bring all our hostages home and we will ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.  The unequivocal support of the United States on Gaza will help us achieve these objectives faster and set us on a path for a different future.  Secretary Rubio and I discussed President Trump’s bold vision for Gaza, for Gaza’s future, how we can work together to ensure that that future becomes a reality.

We also discussed the situation in Syria after the collapse of Assad’s regime, a collapse that was made possible by Israel’s weakening of Iran’s terror axis, especially the weakening of Hizballah and the removal of Nasrallah.

For over a decade before October 7th, Israel acted to prevent Iran from developing new terror fronts, new terror fronts against us in Syria, right off to the Golan Heights and deeper in Syria.  And we conducted hundreds of airstrikes, perhaps a thousand, in order to prevent it, and we did.  Now, if any other force in Syria today believes that Israel will permit other hostile forces to use Syria as a base of operations against us, they are gravely mistaken.  Israel will act to prevent any threat from emerging near our border in southwest Syria.

The Secretary and I discussed Lebanon as well.  Israel is committed to the ceasefire understandings that were reached in November.  We expect the Government of Lebanon to be equally committed to their fulfilment.  The scenes we saw this weekend in Beirut, our beautiful forces being attacked by Hizballah, this was not encouraging.  The two UN resolutions that everyone refers to, 1559, 1709 – 1701, well, they must be fully implemented.  Hizballah must be disarmed and Israel would prefer that the Lebanese Army do that job, but no one should doubt that Israel will do what it has to do to enforce the understandings of the ceasefire and defend our security.

The Secretary and I also discussed how the many international institutions have been hijacked and turned into anti-American and anti-Israeli forums.  We see that in the UN General Assembly, in the UN Human Rights Commission, where anti-Americanism is rampant and more resolutions are passed about Israel than any – the rest of the world combined.  And we see it especially in the lawfare that is being waged against America and Israel at the ICC, the ICJ, and elsewhere.  The ICC has outrageously libeled Israel and issued arrest warrants based on utter lies.

Like America, Israel is not subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC and does not accept the court’s authority.  Israel commends President Trump and his administration for restoring his executive order against the ICC and for moving quickly to sanction ICC officials.  The Secretary and I discussed working together to formulate a common strategy to deal with the threat of lawfare and neutralizing this threat once and for all.

So these are some of the issues we discussed today.  Believe it or not there were more, many more.  We can say that the Middle East today has many opportunities, many challenges, and we think we can realize the opportunities and also meet the challenges.  And I have no doubt that working together America and Israel will overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities.  I have to say that I am absolutely confident that under President Trump’s leadership and working together with you, Secretary Rubio, Marco, the best days of our lives are still yet to come.

Welcome to Jerusalem.  Welcome, Marco.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.  It is an honor to be back here.  I’ve been here many times before as an American visiting and then as a member of the United States Senate but now for the first time as Secretary of State of the United States, and it’s an honor to be here.  And it’s an honor to serve in this role on behalf of President Donald Trump, who, as you’ve accurately stated, Mr. Prime Minister, is a tremendous friend of Israel.  There has been no stronger ally for Israel in the White House than President Trump.

He is also a man that speaks clearly and unambiguously and makes clear his views on issues.  The first he’s made clear – and as you pointed out and – the hostages need to come home.  They need to be released.  And you worked in very close coordination with him.  He’s working in very close coordination but with the prime minister and his government in ensuring that that happens.  That must happen.  It’s not optional.  And that’s a goal we share in common and that is something we’ll work on very closely together.

The President has also been very bold about his view of what the future for Gaza should be – not the same tired ideas of the past but something that’s bold and something that frankly took courage and vision in order to outline.  And it may have shocked and surprised many, but what cannot continue is the same cycle where we will repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place.

Related to that, the President has been very clear:  Hamas cannot continue as a military or government force.  And frankly, as long as it stands as a force that can govern or as a force that can administer or as a force that can threaten by use of violence, peace becomes impossible.  They must be eliminated.  It must be eradicated.

On the broader issues that we discussed as well is the questions in Syria.  And while the fall of Assad is certainly promising and important, Syria replacing one destabilizing force for another is not a positive development.  And that is something that we will watch very carefully as we seek to craft our own strategy with regards to how to approach the events in Syria.

In the case of Lebanon, our goals are aligned and the same: a strong Lebanese state that can take on and disarm Hizballah.

The common theme in all of these challenges is Iran.  It is the single greatest source of instability in the region.  Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people who call this region home, is Iran.  And by Iran I mean the ayatollahs.  By Iran I mean its regime – a regime, by the way, its people don’t support.  The people of Iran are victims of that regime.

And so I think it’s important to constantly point that whether we talk about Hamas or we talk about Hizballah or we talk about violence in the West Bank or we talk about destabilization of Syria or we talk about any of these issues, the militias in Iraq – they all have behind them one common theme – Iran.  And that must be addressed and there can never be a nuclear Iran – a nuclear Iran that could then hold itself immune from pressure and from action.  That can never happen.  The President has been clear about that as well.

And so I close where I began by reiterating our strong support for our allies, very close allies and partners here in Israel, to the people of this great country for whom we have tremendous love and respect, for everything you’re facing, have faced, and continue to face.  It is an extraordinary story of bravery – a nation founded in the ashes and in the aftermath of a horrifying crime against humanity – that’s stood from its very inception, from the very day of its birth, against threats from every angle and every corner, and has served as an example to the world of a pluralistic society, a free enterprise democracy, and one that if there were more Israels in the Middle East, more countries like that, the world would be a safer and a better place.

And this is what we hope for the region and for our planet – a nation that’s always sought peace that will not allow itself to be intimidated or destroyed by its enemies.  And on that front, you can always count on us as long as I am in this position and President Trump is in the White House.  So thank you.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU:  Thank you.