PM Netanyahu and Ambassador Friedmanן
PM Netanyahu and Ambassador FriedmanןAmos Ben Gershom/GPO

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took advantage of his opening remarks of the Cabinet meeting Sunday morning to say goodbye to outgoing US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

"We say goodbye today to US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman," the Prime Minister began. "I must say that over the years I have met many ambassadors from many countries and also from the United States, our great ally, but I can say that there was no ambassador who was better than David Friedman in establishing deep ties between Israel and the United States, for redressing injustices created over the years in world diplomacy in relation to Israel and establishing Jerusalem's status as the capital of Israel, and for many things, some of which have not yet been told."

"David, I do not know if, when you agreed to become ambassador, you knew what an imprint you would leave, but today we all know it. We know that you have worked hard to bring American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which is the correction of an injustice that is difficult to understand," he added. "And not only did you do that, you acted quickly to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, you also acted to ensure that the American passports read Jerusalem - 'Israel.'"

"What could be more obvious, what could be more just than correcting this injustice? This nonsense has been corrected after decades by President Trump's vigorous action with your encouragement and initiative, that's the first thing. The second thing, you also acted to encourage the recognition of our sovereignty in the Golan Heights, which is also a natural and desirable move, both in terms of justice and security. You also acted to correct this issue. Thirdly, you worked with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to change the reference to settlements in Judea and Samaria, to make it clear that our presence there is not against international law and moreover, you also changed the definition of occupied territories of Judea and Samaria to disputed territories and this is exactly what the definition was until it was distorted by elements hostile to Israel and hostile to the truth," Netanyahu said.

"Beyond that, you also acted, as we did at Ariel University, to ensure that the scientific agreements between Israel and the United States also apply to the communities beyond the Green Line, and that is a good thing. And two other very great things; You were a key pillar in the planning and formulation of the Trump plan, which is the first serious plan to achieve real peace between Israel and the Palestinians. What is there beyond security is, first of all, the need for the Palestinians to recognize the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. The lack of this recognition, this is the root of the conflict. This is what has been maintaining this conflict for more than 100 years before the establishment of the State of Israel: they have rejected the Balfour Declaration, they have rejected the partition plan, they have denied all those signs and steps that will recognize our right to our own nation-state.

"You have worked beyond that to expand the circle of peace and abolish the Palestinian veto which results from the denial of the State of Israel, and in fact to collapse and overcome this veto so that we can reach peace agreements with countries in the Arab world such as the four peace agreements we have made in the past four months. These are the result of our joint efforts, of myself, of President Trump, of the skilled team led by Jared Kushner, which of course included you as well, of Aryeh [Lightstone], of Jason Greenblatt, Avi Berkowitz and others. This is a great thing that is good for Israeli-US relations, good for Israel and good for peace. For all this, David, thank you very much," Netanyahu concluded.