Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Thursday with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu subsequently gave the Pompeo a Bible as a gift saying: “I gave you a Bible as a gift and I said that the People of the Book have not had a better friend and I mean it. And I want to also express my appreciation for our personal friendship and everything that went along with it. So every word that I’m saying here is meant from the heart.”
“I think that the first thing that I should do is to express my condolences on the deaths of six American members of the MFO in Sinai. You were a serviceman and you know the pain of the loss of the people that were killed last week in a tragic accident. I sent a note but I want to say it directly to you. They were killed along with fellow peacemakers from France and the Czech Republic. So we honor their memory and our thoughts and prayers are with their families.
“Mike, we have worked together closely for these past four years. First when you were CIA director and then as Secretary of State. And I think from those two unique vantage points you’ve seen firsthand evidence of what I’ve been saying for many years, that the United States of America has no better friend than the State of Israel. And you can attest to that in a variety of ways.
“But you also worked hard to prove the other thing that I’m saying for many years and you contributed to it personally, mightily, that Israel has no better friend in the world than the United States of America. And over the last four years, under President Trump and his remarkable team led by you and Ambassador Friedman and Jared Kushner and others, Israel’s alliance with the US has reached unprecedented heights.
“Thanks to President Trump, the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved its embassy here. Thanks to President Trump, the United States recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thanks to President Trump, the US pulled out of the dangerous nuclear deal with Iran, placed crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime and eliminated the mega-terrorist Qassem Soleimani. Thanks to President Trump, the United States proposed the first truly realistic plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. And thanks to President Trump, Israel was able to forge peace with three Arab countries: the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan.
“Israel is deeply grateful for all that President Trump has done with you and the others of the team to strengthen Israel and to advance peace. And Israel is deeply grateful to you Mike for your unwavering support.
“You have, under your leadership in the CIA and the State Department, strengthened the alliance between Israel and United States. In your tenure at the CIA, intelligence cooperation was made stronger than ever, enhancing the security of both our countries. Under your leadership at the State Department, US representatives at the UN and other international forums have unabashedly defended Israel with no apologetics and no artificial correctives. Just defended Israel. Defended what is right. Defended what is true.
“America has firmly stood up to the perversion of justice at the ICC and I want to thank you for your personal involvement in all these things. Everything that I said involves your personal contribution as well. And the US rejected the assumptions about the legal status of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.
“Thanks to your tremendous efforts to carry out President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign, Iran’s feet have been held to the fire and we have seen a reduction in the amount of support that they are giving to their various proxies in the region.
“Your twelve points set the standard for what Iran needs to do if it wants to be treated like a normal country. Those who claim that your twelve points are either unnecessary or unrealistic simply want to give Iran a free pass. A free pass on Iran’s atrocious human rights record; a free pass on Iran’s support for terrorism, a free pass on Iran’s aggression in the region; a free pass on Iran’s menacing missile development; and worst of all, a free pass on Iran’s plan to develop nuclear weapons with the expressed purpose of annihilating Israel and conquering the Middle East.
“The tyrants of Tehran deserve no free passes. And for all this and for much more, Israel is grateful to you. I am grateful to you.
“Thank you, Mike, for your tremendous friendship and for your invaluable contribution to our alliance and to Israel’s security and to the expansion of the circle of peace. Thank you friend and we hope to see you next year in Jerusalem.”
