Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik welcomed US President George W. Bush to the Knesset on Thursday afternoon, quoting the phrase engraved onto the Statue of Liberty as an example of a shared vision of two peoples, Americans and Israelis.

Itzik told President Bush that Israel shares with the US the same values of democracy, tolerance and freedom, and called on the Palestinian Authority not to use the future of Israeli and PA children as a hostage in talks.