Statement by Izraeli PM Netanyahu at a Press Conference with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Statement by PM Netanyahu at a Press Conference with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel
„Thank you, Angela. Thank you, Chancellor Merkel. I want to thank you for
your warm reception to me, and the warm reception of your government to my
colleagues, our entire delegation.
I know, and I heard it again yesterday and today, how important to you is
the relationship between Israel and Germany.You said it’s not just another
relationship; it’s a special relationship and it’s deeply felt that you
deeply feel it. And I appreciate it greatly. I appreciate the time and
energy that you’re devoting to strengthening this relationship, and I want
to take this opportunity to make it absolutely clear that I have no doubt
whatsoever about the depth of your commitment to Israel’s security and to
the well-being of the Jewish state.
We had an opportunity to have an excellent discussion last night, and it
continued today. We spoke today about the various realms of cooperation –
scientific, economic, academic, cultural – in every possible way between our
two countries. But we devoted a great deal of time to the challenges that we
face in this rapidly changing Middle East. We spoke about the need to
prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. We spoke about the need to
ensure that Syria’s stock of chemical weapons is not used or does not fall
into the wrong hands, well terrorist hands in this case. We spoke about the
need to advance peace with the Palestinians.
Israel remains fully committed to achieving a peace with the Palestinians,
based on the principle of two states for two peoples, and in this peace, a
demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the Jewish state of Israel. I
believe that the only way to achieve such a peace is through direct
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. I hope that the
Palestinians will return to the negotiating table, that they do so without
preconditions so that we can work together to forge a secure and lasting
peace that address the needs of both Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Today I can say that in those discussions we also put in perspective –
that’s the way I would put it – we put in perspective, a genuine
perspective, a real perspective, the many agreements that we have on all
these issues and some others that I haven’t mentioned, and put in
perspective also the differences of view that we have, and we do have one or
two. But I think that the overwhelming feeling that I come of these talks
with is that we have a friend and a partner for peace and security, for
security and peace in the Middle East as we seek to give our peoples a hope
and a future in the coming decade and decades.
As I said before, the Government-to-Government meeting also enabled us to
discuss a variety of other fields in security and trade, in science and
agriculture, and many other areas. We’re going and opening up area after
area for German-Israeli cooperation, and for that and for everything else, I
want to thank you, Chancellor Merkel. Thank you.”
