Netanyahu: Biden is right — there won’t be peace until Israel is recognized as an independent Jewish state

Speaking before Blinken, Netanyahu thanks the US for its “firm support for Israel’s right to self-defense.”

“If Hamas breaks the calm and attacks Israel, our response will be very powerful,” he warns.

He says he and Blinken “discussed ways of how to work together to prevent Hamas rearmament.”

Regarding Iran, Netanyahu says: “I hope that the United States will not go back to the old JCPOA. We believe that that [2015] deal paves the way for Iran to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons with international legitimacy.”

“Whatever happens,” adds Netanyahu, “Israel will always reserve the right to defend itself against a regime committed to our destruction, committed to getting the weapons of mass destruction for that end.”

Netanyahu says Israel and the US need to work together to expand normalization between Israel and the Arab and Muslim world.

Also discussed, he says, were ways “to improve the lives and conditions of the Palestinians — the humanitarian conditions in Gaza — including the question of the return of our MIAs and two civilians… as well as building economic growth for Judea, Samaria — the West Bank — with international cooperation and participation.”

As for a formal peace with the Palestinians, says Netanyahu, “President Biden was absolutely correct when he said ‘you’re not going to get peace until Israel is recognized as an independent Jewish state.’ That is the key — I couldn’t agree more with President Biden.”

Concludes Netanyahu, “we have common goals of peace, security and prosperity.”

At the end of the event, Netanyahu takes a moment to thank Biden for his condemnation of the rise of antisemitism.

“Thank you and the president for your strong statements against antisemitism,” he says. It is “masquerading as anti-Zionism but it’s antisemitism and you took a bold position, a clear position, and we appreciate it. I think all decent people everywhere appreciate that stance.”