President Herzog: There is a unique opportunity to make a special effort to employ all tools necessary and possible to move forward and bring the hostages back home.
President Isaac Herzog met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv. Ahead of their meeting, the two delivered brief remarks.
President Herzog:
"Mr. Secretary, it’s an honor to have you with us. You're a great friend. I want to thank the Administration for its support of the State of Israel in so many fields. I want to thank the Administration for the new THAAD system being installed in Israel. We are, of course, ready and operating on various fronts, serving a great cause for the free world.
In respect to Gaza, I was moved to see, Mr. Secretary that you've met with the families of the hostages. It is the highest plight in this crisis, in this war, and we know that there is a unique opportunity that following the killing of Sinwar and the other circumstances that have evolved, there is a unique opportunity to make a special effort to employ all tools necessary and possible to move forward and bring the hostages back home.
As for the northern front, we are in a different situation. There we’ve been constantly attacked for a year already, and definitely in the last few weeks, constantly attacked from Lebanon. And that is why we have to take all the steps possible to eradicate the capabilities of Hezbollah, to move forward in preventing the onslaught against the citizens of Israel, and the cities and towns, their attacks with drones, missiles, rockets, their attack on the private home of the Prime Minister - it’s all part of a major campaign which, at the end of it all is led and commanded in Tehran. And that is why, of course, a major answer has to be made towards Tehran. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and welcome to Israel."
Secretary Blinken:
"Mr. President, thank you very much. It's always so good to be with you to get your insight, to get your perspective. And I look forward to the conversation that we're about to have. We had a series of important meetings today with Prime Minister Netanyahu, with Defense Minister Galant, Chief of Staff Halevi, and as the President just said I had the opportunity again to meet with the families of hostages, and each and every time, it only reinforces what so many families in the United States and Israel and other countries have to live with every single day with their loved ones held in captivity. I believe very much that the death of Sinwar does create an important opportunity to bring the hostages home, to bring the war to an end, and to ensure Israel's security - and that's exactly what our conversations today focused on with our Israeli colleagues, including arrangements for the period following the end of the conflict. It’s a conversation that I'll pursue in the region with other partners. But as the President said, this is - and we have to make sure that this is - a moment of opportunity to move forward. And that’s the focus of all the conversations we’re having here."