Netanyahu: Israel stands with the US in its fight for peace and security

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the US on Sunday, after the US killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and further strikes in Iraq.

US President Donald Trump “deserves appreciation for acting determinedly, powerfully and swiftly,” Netanyahu said at the opening of a cabinet meeting.

“Israel stands totally with the US in its just struggle for security, peace and self-defense,” he added.

The US killed IRGC Quds Force commander Soleimani in Baghdad overnight Thursday.

Netanyahu said that Soleimani killed many US citizens and other innocent civilians in recent decades.

“Soleimani initiated, planned and enacted many terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East and beyond.”

The Security Cabinet postponed a meeting on the impact of Soleimani’s killing that was supposed to take place on Sunday to Monday afternoon.

The prime minister also discussed his visit to Athens on Thursday, during which he and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and their countries’ energy ministers signed an agreement to build an undersea natural-gas pipeline from Israel to Europe.

Israel also began exporting gas to Jordan last week.

In his remarks, Netanyahu appeared to have a slip of the tongue, saying: “The meaning of this project is that Israel is becoming a nuclear superpower – an energy superpower.”

Israel has long maintained a policy of nuclear ambiguity, while also never officially denying or admitting to the possession of nuclear weapons, often repeating that Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East.

Netanyahu also offered his condolences to the families of the couple in Tel Aviv who drowned in a flooded elevator over the weekend.

“I would like to express my deep shock in the name of the ministers of the government and many citizens of Israel at the tragic deaths of Deen Yaakov Shoshani and Stav Harrari,” he stated.

Netanyahu told Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Ronen Peretz to call a meeting of all the heads of the relevant government offices to try to learn the lessons of the accident so it does not happen again.