September 15, 2025
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a news conference in Jerusalem on the second of Rubio’s two days in Israel after more than 23 months of the Hamas-Israel war. The centerpiece of Rubio’s time in Israel was the full opening of the Pilgrim’s Path in the City of David National Park. He then travelled to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The visit came after strong American criticism of Israel’s airstrike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha, the Qatari capital, on September 9. Rubio arrived in Doha at the end of an emergency Arab-Islamic leaders summit that condemned Israel’s attack. In Qatar and the UAE, he reaffirmed America’s commitment to both countries’ territorial integrity.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized during a joint news conference less than a month from the second anniversary of the brutal October 7th Hamas terrorist attack on Israel that many fundamentals have not changed:
• Israel maintains five goals in the war — free all the hostages, eliminate the Hamas military, demilitarize Gaza, establish Israeli security responsibility in Gaza, and create a peaceful, transitional civilian government in the Strip.
• The United States remains focused on the release of all hostages, the removal of Hamas and an international effort to rebuild Gaza.
• Efforts to recognize an ill-defined Palestinian state during the war not only don’t advance peace but fortify Hamas to keep fighting in the belief it has rising international support.
• The war can end any day Hamas is willing to stop fighting and end the suffering of fellow Palestinians.
• The U.S.-Israel relationship is as strong as ever.
Rubio said he will continue to explain to allies that it is counterproductive to recognize a Palestinian state during the war, and he expressed no concern about friendly Arab Gulf states responding to Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha.
Netanyahu said it doesn’t matter how many Hamas officials that airstrike killed, if any. Instead, the goal was to remind terrorists of a doctrine dating to the Munich Olympics massacre: Israel can and will hit them anywhere.
While repeating on the need to “remember October 7th,” both leaders also took time to express grief for assassinated conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Netanyahu said Kirk was a strong supporter of Israel and wasn’t much older than Netanyahu’s brother, Yoni, when he was killed at Entebbe in 1976.
— Michael Jacobs
Netanyahu: Mr. Secretary, Marco, your visit to our eternal and undivided capital, Jerusalem, is a powerful affirmation of a powerful bond. We stand in a time of immense challenges. The aggression of Iran and its terrorist proxies. Those who chant, “Death to America, death to Israel.” They are not chanting it by accident because they see Israel as the front line of American civilization here in the Middle East.
While those chants and those threats still linger, but they’re a lot less dangerous now, and they’re a lot less dangerous because they were met with our common resolve. The decision by President Trump to target the nuclear facilities of Iran was not merely a militarily wise thing to do. It was also a message to the entire world that the United States acts to defend its interests and defend its allies. And America has no better ally than Israel. It’s obvious that Israel has no better ally than America. A remarkable partner, a remarkable alliance, I think, as we’ve formed for ages.
And President Trump said to me the other day, he said, “Remember October 7th.” That’s what he said. It’s like “Remember the Alamo”: “Remember October 7th.” And we remember. We remember the savagery. We remember the incredible massacre of the innocents. We remember our hostages, and we’re committed to bringing all of them home, the living and the dead, and we appreciate all the help that President Trump and you have given us in this sacred task. We remember Hamas. And we know that we must defeat them and ensure that they no longer are able to turn Gaza into a threat to Israel. They no longer should be there.
Your presence here in Israel today is a clear message that America stands with Israel. You stand with us in the face of terror, in the face of the incredible I would almost say Middle Ages lies that are directed against us, the rising antisemitism of the world, and really the weak governments that are putting pressures on us because they collapse under the pressure of Islamist minorities and incredible vilification.
I want to thank you personally for your unwavering support of Israel’s right to defend itself. We’re standing firmly against those who seek to isolate, demonize our nation.
And I’d like once again to extend our deepest gratitude to a great friend of Israel, a personal friend of mine, President Donald J. Trump. The president has shown consistent leadership, moral clarity and bold actions that have strengthened the alliance between our nations as never before. The American-Israeli alliance has never been as strong as it is now. And the president’s been an outstanding global leader. He’s really transforming the world to better all of us, and I can again repeat what I’ve said time and time again. He’s the greatest friend that Israel has ever had at the White House.
We will continue to act together with great force and great determination to protect our countries and, I may add, to protect our common civilization because we’re engaged in the battle of civilization against barbarism. And the alliance between our nations remains as enduring and unshakable as the stones of the Western Wall we visited yesterday. We will forever cherish this friendship, and I want to say, Mr. Secretary, thank you. May God protect you, bless you and bless your family. May God bless America and God bless Israel, and may God bless our enduring alliance.
Rubio: Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. First of all, let me say on behalf of the president of the United States, President Trump, I want to thank you for your friendship and for the friendship that Israel has shown towards the United States. So many issues we work on together that extend beyond the causes of war and peace, but advances in technology, advances in economics, and those remain strong and enduring and unwavering, and not enough attention gets paid to those links, the economic links, the cultural links. We’re here today, by the way, later this evening to inaugurate and to open to the world perhaps one of the most important archaeological sites on the planet and one that has deep meaning to so many people in the United States as well as the pilgrims over at the City of David. And so it’s an honor to be here and be a part of that.
As far as the president’s been clear on the ongoing issues in Gaza, and that is that every single hostage, both living and deceased, needs to be home immediately. Hamas can no longer continue to exist as an armed element that threatens the peace and security not just of Israel, but of the world, and that the people of Gaza deserve a better future, one that cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated and until all of the hostages, both living and deceased, are home. And he remains committed firmly to that objective, and that’s what we seek to talk about today, have talked about todayand will continue to talk about it, and that is the road forward on how to achieve those things. Those objectives remain. Those objectives remain in place.
Beyond that, obviously we cooperated and were involved together just a few weeks ago on the issue of Iran and Iran’s desire to possess not just nuclear weapons, but short- and mid-range missiles with the capability of threatening our presence here in this hemisphere, in this region, and of course the safety and security of the Jewish state. But I would venture to say a threat that actually extends well beyond that to the kingdoms of the Gulf and eventually even into Europe. In fact, some of the missiles they’re trying to develop now can already range countries in Europe. And so a nuclear Iran governed by a radical Shia cleric that possesses not just nuclear weapons potentially, but the missiles that could deliver those weapons far away, is an unacceptable risk not just for Israel, not just for the United States, but for the world, and that’s why the president continues with our campaign of maximum pressure and will continue to be maximum economic pressure on Iran until they change course.
That’s why we are encouraged to see our partners in Europe begin the process of snapping back sanctions on Iran. They are clearly out of compliance with what was already a flawed deal to begin with, and we encourage them to continue down that road. We 100% support that. That is exactly what needs to happen, and we remain firmly committed, as I said, to the president’s objective, which he’s been abundantly clear on.
And I want to repeat, at the end of the day, no matter what has happened or happens, the objective remains the same, and that is all 48 of those hostages, both living and deceased, need to be home. They need to be returned. They never should have been taken. What happened on October 7th was an act of unparalleled barbarism, and what’s happened since then have been repeated acts of unparalleled barbarism on the part of Hamas.
Hamas needs to cease to exist as an armed element that can threaten the peace and security of the region, and the people of Gaza deserve a better future. But that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated. That better future and that kind of peace is not even possible until the hostages are released, all of them, every single one. And so that’s what we continue to be focused on. That’s what the president wants to see happen, and that’s what you can count on our unwavering support and commitment to see come to fruition.
Netanyahu: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Aide: Just state your name and where you’re from.
Reporter: I am from Israel. My name is Lisa Rozovsky. I’m from Haaretz, and I want to ask if you still think that the military dismantlement of Hamas is possible.
Rubio: Well, Hamas can surrender tonight if they want and lay down their weapons. The problem is they’re a terrorist group, a barbaric group, whose stated mission is the destruction of the Jewish state, so we’re not counting on that from happening. Look, I think we would all, every single person I know, I don’t know of anyone who would not rather see a negotiated settlement in which Hamas agrees to no longer be a terrorist group, lay down their arms, free the hostages — by the way, not just the hostages that they’re holding from Israel, but frankly the people of Gaza that they’re also holding hostage as human shields. So that would be the ideal outcome, one we would all like to see. It’s one that’s been worked on.
But I think we have to be prepared for the fact that savage terrorists don’t normally agree to things like that, but we’ll continue to pursue that route. It’s the ideal outcome, but it may require ultimately a concise military operation to eliminate them. We have to remember who we’re dealing with here, and that is a group of people that have dedicated their lives to violence and barbarism. And when you’re confronting that hard reality, as much as we may wish that there be a sort of a peaceful, diplomatic way to end it, and we’ll continue to explore and be dedicated to it, we also have to be prepared for the possibility that that’s not going to happen.
Reporter: [Asks Netanyahu a question in Hebrew.] And question to Secretary Rubio: Did you ask Israel not to advance with its military maneuver in Gaza and not to repeat the attack in Qatar?
Netanyahu: Well, I’ve said repeatedly that Israel’s decision to act against the Hamas terrorist leadership in Qatar was a wholly independent decision by Israel. It was a decision taken by me and our top security force chiefs. It was conducted by us, and we assume full responsibility for it because we believe that terrorists should not be given a haven. The people who planned the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust cannot have a haven. So we did it on our own, period.
Rubio: All I would add is that we are focused on what happens now, what happens next. What role can Qatar play possibly in reaching an outcome here that leads not just to the end of this hostility, not just to the release of all of the hostages, both living and deceased, not just the disarmament and elimination of Hamas, but also a better future for the people of Gaza? Which isn’t possible as long as Hamas exists, which isn’t possible as long as 48 hostages are being held. And so we’re going to continue to encourage Qatar to play a constructive role in that regard. We’re focused because at the end of the day, no matter what has happened, these fundamentals still remain. There is still a Hamas. There are still 48 hostages, and there is still a war going on, and all of these things standing in the way of a better future for the people of Gaza and a peaceful end to what’s happening now. So we’re going to remain focused on what we can do next.
[Reporter asks question in Hebrew.]Netanyahu: The question was about the ramifications of the barbaric murder of Charlie Kirk. First, let me say Charlie Kirk was a tremendous, tremendous friend of Israel, and he believed and discussed with me how to defend Israel, how to defend Western civilization. He actually wrote a detailed memorandum suggesting how we should do that. He saw our battle as a common one for our common values and our common freedom. He also believed in having a free discourse, and he was, I think, a great American patriot, a believer in the freedom and liberties that America gave to the world and a believer in the common foundation of our civilization, which he attached to this city, this country, this land.
He was struck down. I think the most important thing is to make sure that his legacy isn’t struck down, that it continues to live. Now, you know, some people are irreplaceable. Charlie was 31 years old. My own brother was 30 years old when he fell in the rescue of hostages at Entebbe. You know, some of these people come once in a century, but it’s their legacy that has to live on. So we’re committed, I’m committed, and I know the president, President Trump, is committed, and I’m sure that’s true of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to make sure that that legacy lives on.
How to address the threats is what you’re saying. How do you actually address the threats of the poisonous incitement, of the people who don’t believe in free speech, who believe in the imposition of their views on others, who speak of democracy but actually want to trample democracy to the dust? How do you deal with that?
I think it’s a common problem. I think the world right now, the Western world, America, Israel are being challenged by extraordinary violence from political opponents within the countries, extraordinary violence. President Trump has, there’s been two attempted assassinations on him. One nearly succeeded. I’ve been targeted myself with death threats, which are pretty much daily. My family was targeted and so are ministers and public figures. They’re harassed. They’re threatened in Israel and in America, and this is a challenge to our democracy. Democracy is supposed to be the nonviolent resolution of conflict within a society, nonviolent resolution. Decisions are made not by bullets, but by ballots, and these people increasingly are more and more violent. And the more they speak of democracy, the more they threaten.
They basically say that the greatest danger to democracy is democracy. “You’re not going to have the rabble decide. I mean, these people who go to the polls, who are they? We’re the enlightened ones. We’re raised above that. That’s the true democracy. The true democracy is to ensure that there is no democracy.” And there’s the double talk. There’s the use of words that mean entirely different things. And that certainly won’t derail us, but I’m sure that we should take all the actions independently and jointly to protect our liberties, our way of life, our democracies.
Rubio: Well, a couple points. I think it’s horrifying to see any human being executed before the entire world because of the social media. It was a particularly difficult week this week in the White House and in Washington because Charlie Kirk wasn’t just someone who supported the president. He wasn’t just someone that we were aware of. He was a personal friend to a lot of people in that White House, to the president, to the vice president, to multiple people. It was a combination political assassination but also death-in-the-family-type event, and it was shocking to a lot of people to see.
Apart from the tragedy of it for him and for his family and for the nation really is the irony. Charlie was one of the few people out there that was actually engaging in what we need more of, and that is debate and conversation among people with strong disagreements. People know Charlie Kirk because of his role on campuses. He would go on college campuses, and he would actively seek out and invite people who strongly disagreed with him to come to the microphone and engage in a back and forth. The alternative to the back and forth is to just attack each other.
It’s very easy to just do podcasts and just do interviews and give speeches where you attack the other side. It’s much harder to engage people whose views are diametrically opposed to yours and engage them in a debate, and he did that. But he didn’t just do that on college campuses because that’s what he was best known for. He did that online as well. Charlie was a frequent guest on the podcasts and on the shows of people who he did not agree with. And he had guests on his show that he did not agree with. He was actually a guest on Gavin Newsom’s podcast and engaged in debate with the Young Turks, as well as going around the world engaging in some of these lecture series with people from the other side. And I don’t even say the other side of the aisle, the other side of ideological divides because sometimes it wasn’t just partisan.
And to see someone who was engaged in what we need more of assassinated in the process of doing exactly that — because that’s when he was assassinated, he was assassinated in the middle of that kind of discourse — I think was an effort not simply to silence Charlie’s voice, but I think it’s an effort to intimidate and silence that kind of effort in America and I think for the world to engage in that kind of discourse with people you disagree with. And once a society loses the ability of people with strong disagreements to engage in discourse, then the only option you’re left with is either silence or violence, neither one of which is acceptable. Both are very destructive.
Reporter: Tom Bateman from BBC News. First of all, Mr. Secretary, you have a very vocal anger from Arab countries, your Gulf allies, over the Israeli strike last week, accusing Israel of barbarism, in their words. Isn’t this a crisis now for American diplomacy? And how are you going to assure your Gulf allies, as the president says, that this won’t happen again? And, Mr. Prime Minister, can you give us your assessment of whether last week’s attack did actually kill any of the Hamas leadership in the building? And in Gaza City, with tower blocks being destroyed every day, dozens dead daily, are you simply using the civilian population of Gaza as a means to apply pressure on Hamas?
Rubio: Well, let me begin with a question you asked me, and that is we have strong relationships with our Gulf allies. We work very closely with them on a number of things. We’ve been engaged with them. We’ve been engaged with them consistently before what happened and after what happened. And ultimately the point we’ll make to everybody is that some fundamentals still remain that have to be addressed irrespective of what has occurred. The reality of it is we still have 48 hostages. We still have a Hamas that is not only holding 48 hostages, they’re holding Gaza hostage, and they’re using civilians as human shields. They’re still a dangerous element, and as long as they exist, as long as they’re around, there will be no peace in this region because they are not agents of peace. They are agents of barbarism. And it’s still a fundamental fact that the people of Gaza deserve a better future, a future which is not possible until the hostages are all released and Hamas no longer exists. All these fundamentals still exist. They all still have to be addressed. And that’s what we’re going to remain focused on as we engage with our allies in the Gulf is how can we continue to work together to address those three things which we think are pillars? Solving those are pillars of the broader construct I think all of us hope for for the region.
Netanyahu: There’s immense cynicism and hypocrisy in the condemnation of Israel. After 9/11, the Security Council of the United Nations passed Resolution 1373, and that resolution said that states must not harbor, give safe haven, finance, plan or allow such actions for terrorists. It didn’t say some actions in this part of the world, or some nations cannot do it in this part of the world, but they can do it in another part of the world. And, of course, the United States acted very boldly against the terrorist havens that were given to Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the terrorist haven that was given to the chief terrorist bin Laden in Pakistan. Those countries that are condemning Israel today did not come and say, “Well, what a terrible thing was done. The sovereignty of Pakistan was violated. The sovereignty of Afghanistan was violated.” You don’t have such sovereignty when you are effectively giving a base to terrorists and a place where they can ply their gruesome trade. So it’s the right of every country under international law to defend itself beyond its borders against those who would kill their citizens, murder them en masse. That is what guided Israel.
What are we trying to do in Gaza? Where you say we’re bringing down those towers to intimidate people, we’re not bringing down those towers to intimidate people. Those towers are serving as Hamas strongholds. But what we’re doing is we’re telling the population because we’re going to take over and destroy the Hamas stronghold. They’re one of the last two strongholds and the most important one that Hamas has left in the Gaza Strip. We ask you to leave.
Now what is Hamas doing? They’re asking them to stay because they want to use them as human shields as they’ve done from the beginning of the war. And we say leave. Please leave duly, fast, as fast as you can, and that’s what we’re doing right now. Hamas is not only telling them don’t leave, but on previous occasions, including a few weeks ago, they shoot them. They shoot women and children in the legs — beginning with the legs,then they go higher if it doesn’t work — to keep them in harm’s way.
So I think that to the extent that the world again is falsely condemning Israel, they should get their priorities and their facts right. It is Israel that is trying to clear the combat zones from the civilians. It’s Hamas that’s trying to keep them in. So we’ll continue to do what we can to make sure that they’re out of harm’s way, and we’ll complete our mission, which is to free all our hostages, get them all back, and make sure that Hamas is eliminated.
Reporter: And on the assessment of the impact of the strike, whether the leadership was killed in Doha?
Netanyahu: Well, we’re still getting the final reports. I’ll tell you what the impact of the strike is. We sent a message to the terrorists: You can run, but you can’t hide, and we’ll get you.
[Reporter asks question in Hebrew.]Netanyahu: Well, I don’t accept the premise of your question, which is that the raid failed. It didn’t fail because it had one central message, and we considered it before we launched it. And that is, you can hide, you can run, but we’ll get you. And this is important. I mean, if terrorists think they enjoy immunity, they’ll do it again and again and again. And if you deny them that immunity, they’ll thinktwice. [Netanyahu switches to Hebrew to complete answer.]
Reporter: Mr. Prime Minister, Robbie Gramer with The Wall Street Journal. Just to put a finer point on it, would you rule out further strikes on Hamas operatives in foreign sovereign countries in the region? And for Secretary Rubio, what’s your message to close U.S. allies like the U.K., which you plan to visit, on the vote at the United Nations to advance a Palestinian state? Not just to nations overall, but some of our closest allies like the U.K. Thanks.
Netanyahu: The principle that terrorists should not have immunity wherever they are, wherever they may be, was not established by me. We had a massacre a few decades ago. It’s called the Munich massacre, in which PLO terrorists murdered our athletes at the Olympic Games. And my predecessor Golda Meir vowed that we shall track down these terrorists and get them one by one, which is what we proceeded to do in the leading European countries. And we did this one by one by one. I didn’t hear a great cry of wrongdoing to these countries, even though they weren’t harboring terrorists. They just, the terrorists were there, OK? They didn’t even harbor them, as is the case in other cases. The terrorists happened to be in that zone, and we acted, which is what democracies do, including the leading democracy, when they have the ability to target terrorists who threaten their civilians. So this is a principle we established. It’s a principle to follow. It hasn’t changed.
Rubio: On your question, these things that people are doing and these different countries are doing at the United Nations, first of all, they’re largely being done because of their own domestic politics. Second of all, they’re largely symbolic. They have really no impact whatsoever in bringing about, bringing us any closer to a Palestinian state. The only impact they actually have is it makes Hamas feel more emboldened. It makes other elements like Hamas feel more emboldened. It actually has made it harder. It’s actually served as an impediment to peace. In the past we have seen when these statements have come out, maybe there’s a negotiation going on. Maybe you think you’ve actually made some progress on getting some hostages released or an end to the war, and then these things come out, and all of a sudden these groups back off, in many cases walk away. Hamas has walked away from agreements that they actually had tacitly agreed to, but then they see the sort of international support they believe they’re getting, and they walk away from it.
So we’ve warned of two things. One, it actually makes it harder to negotiate when those negotiations were occurring because it emboldens these groups. And the second is we warned them that there will be an Israeli counter-reaction to those moves, and we’ve seen some of that happen as well. So I think these things have actually made it harder to end this war and this conflict, not easier, and we’ve expressed that to them. I’ve expressed that to them directly on multiple occasions, and I’ll continue to do it. They’re going to do what they want, and they’re going to continue to do what they’re doing. But I’m telling you it’s actually hurting the cause they think they’re helping.
Netanyahu: Two last questions.
Aide: Let’s take one from the foreign press and one from the Israeli press.
Reporter: Thank you. Secretary, I wanted to ask, I know you mentioned prior to the trip that the focus of the trip was not the Israeli plans for the operation in Gaza City, but I was wondering if you could tell us if that’s something, and, Mr. Prime Minister, good to see you again, if this is something that came up in your discussions in terms of the U.S. view on the announced Israeli plans for military operations in Gaza City and what the U.S. view is about this idea of, as some have talked about, a Gideon’s, Operation Gideon’s Chariot II or a continuation of the offensive or an extension of the offensive potentially this month in Gaza City?
Rubio: The best way for me to put it to you is that the purpose of our conversations has been about what the president — I’ll restate what the president has repeatedly said. He wants every single hostage released. He wants Hamas eliminated as a threat, and he wants to then have the United States be helpful in rebuilding Gaza for the future that’s going to be peaceful and prosperous and not have elements like Hamas operating. That’s the goal.
Now how do we achieve that? How do we get there? That’s what we’re always talking about. That’s what we talked about today. And that’s going to continue to be the focus of our engagement in this. We want all of the hostages out, all of them, every single one of them, both living and deceased, all. There should never have been hostages. This should never have happened. This happened because on October 7th these animals, these barbaric animals, conducted this operation against innocent people that had nothing to do with any of this, and that’s where this all started. We’ve forgotten that. People have forgotten that that’s where this all began. That’s why the president keeps saying, “Remember October 7th.” We wouldn’t even be having these conversations right now if these barbarians had not done what they did. So this is what brought us to this point. It needs to end.
And how does it end? It ends by eliminating the people who did it, by ending them as a threat. It ends by releasing every single hostage, both living and deceased. There should never have been a hostage. There should not be a hostage now. And then when all of that is done, then we can begin the work, I hope internationally, to providing the people of Gaza the kind of future that they deserve but that they will never have as long as a group like Hamas exists.
So that’s been our focus and obviously has been the focus and at the core of much of what we talked about. How do we achieve what I believe is a shared goal not just to the United States and Israel, but of multiple countries around the world and certainly in the region who want to see the same outcome? And that’s what we’ve been focused on. That’s been the president’s focus, and he wants that to all happen as soon and as quickly as possible.
Netanyahu: You asked the question. What was the tail end of your question?
Reporter: Sorry. Just if you could comment about, following your discussions over the past couple of days, about Israel’s plans with regard to Gaza City and potential expansion of the offensive there.
Netanyahu: Well, I’m not going to talk about our tactical plans. I’ll leave that to our military people in the field. But I have stated the Cabinet’s decision on five principles that I brought before it. And as Secretary Rubio correctly said, this war could end now. And it requires the first step for Hamas to lay down its arms, to release all our hostages, and I’ll bring you the three other points that we put forward. One, the third is that Gaza should be demilitarized. Demilitarized is different from just laying down your arms because you want to make sure that arms are not smuggled into Gaza and arms are not produced in Gaza. So demilitarization is the third point. Overriding Israeli security responsibility is the fourth point to make sure that there’s no resurgent terrorism from Hamas or from any other organization. And the last thing is to establish a transitional civilian government by people who do not advocate the destruction of Israel, do not educate their children to terrorism, finance terrorism or launch terrorism. These are the five points, and we’re committed to doing it.
We’re now, Secretary Rubio said, how do you achieve this? How do you achieve the release of the hostages and eliminating Hamas if you keep Hamas there? If they surrender, lay down their arms, then you can do the rest without battle. And at any point if you can do something without battle, it’s better. Having been in battle, I can tell you it’s not a lot of fun. And to see your friends die next to you, it’s not a lot of fun, or maimed for life, that’s not a lot of fun. So if we can achieve this by having a Hamas surrender, all the better.
Aide: One last question.
[Reporter asks question in Hebrew.]Netanyahu: [Answers in Hebrew.]
Thank you. I want to acknowledge, sorry, the presence of two extraordinary ambassadors here: Ambassador Huckabee, American ambassador to Israel, and Ambassador Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States. Our foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar. Our National Security Council head, Tzachi Hanegbi. My staff and your staff, all great people. Thank you.
