Netanyahu to AIPAC: ‘Israel on alert, ready to defend itself’

In a televised speech to AIPAC’s annual Policy Conference yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Israel is on alert and ready to defend itself”, Arab48 reported.

He also called for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop funding “terrorists” and for it to recognise “Israel as a Jewish state”.

Israel is committed to peace with the Palestinians and Arab “neighbours”, he said while hailed his government’s relationship with the American administration under President Donald Trump who expressed his full support for Israel.

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“You see it in the budget requests submitted by President Trump, which leaves aid to Israel fully funded even amid federal belt-tightening,” he told AIPAC.

He also congratulated Trump’s lawyer, David Friedman, as he was approved by the Senate to be the US ambassador to Israel. “David, I look forward to welcoming you warmly to Israel, and especially to Jerusalem,” he said, hinting at the prospect of the US embassy being relocated from Tel Aviv.

On Sunday, US Vice President Mike Pence told AIPAC that “the president of the United States is giving serious consideration to moving the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv.”

Netanyahu also hailed the US Envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, saying she is “standing up for what’s right for Israel and the truth at the United Nations.”

A Jewish-led demonstration took place outside the conference centre where AIPAC was being held with demonstrators calling for an end to the occupation and discrimination at the hands of the Israeli authorities.