Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu'sReuters

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu related this morning at the start of the cabinet meeting to his expected upcoming meeting US envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt.

“This afternoon I will again meet with President Trump’s envoy, Jason Greenblatt. We are in the middle of a process with the White House and our intention is to come to an agreeable policy concerning settlement building,” Netanyahu opened. “Agreeable to us, of course, not just the American side.”

"Of course, this is good for Israel after we were not in such processes for many years,” he added, and declared, “to the residents of Amona I say again: I gave you my commitment to establish a new community, and I will stand by that commitment.”

The Prime Minister also related to his upcoming visit to China. “On Sunday I will depart for China together with five government ministers. The visit is by invitation from the President of China, and comes to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between our countries. I will meet with the Chinese President and Prime Minister, and our ministers will, of course, meet with their Chinese counterparts. I will meet with the heads of the largest Chinese corporations and today, when we talk about the largest corporations in China, we’re sometimes talking about the largest corporations in the world, or becoming the largest in the world. We will continue with talks concerning a free-trade agreement between Israel and China, and we will hold the third joint innovation conference between China and Israel. We are, of course, continuing to open new markets to the Israeli economy, and that’s something from which I, of course, expect participation from all the ministers, and they are doing this.”

Afterward Netanyahu related to his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, which he said “dealt primarily with subjects pertaining to the Iranian attempt to gain a military foothold in Syria, including by establishing an Iranian sea port in Syria. We also presented the continued attempts of Iran to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah via Syria. We also deliberated upon economic matters [...]”

“Israel is in a period of political flowering. Not all problems have been solved, it doesn’t mean that other countries agree with us on everything, that’s not true. But the great continuity of the meetings, both with world superpowers and the meetings with leaders arriving here every day - yesterday I met with the President of Bosnia and the Foreign Minister of Italy in one day, that’s a typical day, and the ministers are also holding meetings here and outside of Israel - shows that Israel is also turning into a world superpower in knowledge and technology, and is also becoming an important factor on the international scene,” Netanyahu concluded.