The outcome of the upcoming American presidential election “doesn’t matter” to Israel, Netanyahu said, expressing confidence in the continuation of the strong alliance between the two countries regardless of who wins.
Continuing his policy of not interfering in the U.S. presidential elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just hours after the Clinton-Trump televised debate on Monday, said that it does not matter to Israel which candidate wins the election in November.
“Both of them talked about their support of Israel and the importance of the ties between the two countries,” Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Tuesday morning, referring to his trip last week to the U.S., where he addressed the 71st United Nations General Assembly in New York and held positive meetings with several world leaders interested in collaborating with Israel on counterterrorism, technology and other initiatives.
“It doesn’t matter which of them will be elected,” Netanyahu stated. “The support for Israel will remain strong, the alliance will remain strong, and will even get stronger in the coming years.”
“The Minister of Finance and I have returned from an important visit to the United States. Last Wednesday I met with President Obama; it was an excellent meeting. I thanked him for the historic security assistance agreement that we signed; the largest in US history with any country,” he continued, referring to the $38 billion military aid package to the IDF over the next 10 years. “This agreement will ensure our military capabilities and our defensive capabilities against missiles in the coming decade.”
“It is no secret that President Obama and I have had our disagreements, first and foremost on the Iranian issue,” he conceded. “But, as it is clear, these disagreements have not clouded the strong and solid relations between the countries at all. The link between the United States and Israel is based not only on deep common interests, but also on shared values that is without parallel in the world. This finds expression, first and foremost, in the massive support of the American public for the State of Israel, which I saw everywhere during my visit to the United States.”
Before flying back to Tel Aviv, Netanyahu met with both presidential candidates, after which he told Army Radio Monday morning that no matter who wins, “we will have a friend in the White House.” He also tweeted on the same day that the strong Israel-U.S. alliance will continue.
By: Terri Nir, United with Israel
Note: We do not endorse any political candidate.