US treasury secretary lays wreath at Yad Vashem

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stopped in Israel Thursday during a Middle East tour focused on combating terrorism.

Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, where they laid a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust

Earlier, Mnuchin met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

“I want to welcome you and say how grateful we are for the support of the United States and the Trump administration, not only in terms of our security, which is critical for our future, but also in economic terms,” Netanyahu said as he greeted Mnuchin.

“The way we cooperate and the things that we do, not only on a government to government level but between Israel’s robust private sector and the great private sector of the united states, this a fundamental part of our economic well being,” he continued, according to a readout from the Government Press Office. “I deeply appreciate it. ”

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“Its been an honor to be with you and the president [Trump] several times and I couldn’t be more excited to be here on my first official visit, hopefully of many more and we don’t have a better partner in the region than Israel,” Mnuchin responded.

“In the world,” quipped Netanyahu. “I can say we don’t have a better partner in the world than the United States.”

“You are probably right,” Munchkin conceded.

Mnuchin was in Saudi Arabia Wednesday, and after his Israel stop will travel to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Mnuchin, who is Jewish, is in the region to coordinate sanctions on backers of terrorist groups. He met in Riyadh on Wednesday with Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, and other top Saudi officials.

According to a Treasury Department release, they discussed the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center, an initiative launched by President Donald Trump when he visited the region earlier this year.

JTA contributed to this report.