by JNS
Hegseth told Netanyahu that "I hope you've noticed here at the Defense Department under President Trump, we are laser focused on reviving the warrior ethos."
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon, Washington,
D.C., Feb. 5, 2025. Credit: U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Madelyn
Keech/U.S. Department of Defense. |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, both with staff members present and privately, at the Pentagon on Wednesday, according to Netanyahu’s office.
The Israeli prime minister was the first foreign dignitary that Hegesth has hosted as part of the Trump administration, per a U.S. readout of the meeting.
Hegesth “emphasized the unbreakable bond that exists between the United States and Israel and praised Israel as a model ally in the Middle East,” and “stressed that the United States remains 100% committed to Israel’s security,” according to John Ullyot, the Pentagon spokesman.
Netanyahu and Hegseth talked about Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack and the U.S. secretary praised the Israeli prime minister “for his courage and leadership over the past 15 months, culminating in a ceasefire agreement that secured the release of Israeli, American and other hostages,” per the extensive U.S. readout.
Hegseth also told Netanyahu that the Trump administration “will support Israel’s right to defend itself” and lauded the Israeli prime minister “for Israel’s military operations that have significantly degraded Iran and its proxies.”
“Both leaders agreed that Iran remains a threat to regional security and agreed to work together on this challenge,” according to Ullyot, and the two “agreed that regional integration is critical to stability in the Middle East.”
“We are honored to stand alongside you, stare down many of the same threats that you do, and under President Trump’s leadership, just like you, we are totally committed to achieving peace through strength through standing with Israel on our side, putting America first and never backing down from anything,” Hegseth said, per a Pentagon transcript. “That it has been and will continue to be an unbreakable bond between our countries.”
Hegseth said that he has visited the Jewish state eight or nine times and spent time at the Kotel with Netanyahu, “watched the IDF in action, visited terror tunnels, understand the proximity, whether it’s the Golan Heights or Hezbollah or the Gaza Strip, the threat that Israeli citizens have been under.”
“It always struck me, the sense of purpose that permeates the state of Israel living under an existential threat,” the U.S. secretary said. “And have always had a great deal of respect for the response that country has had.”
“Now destroying Hamas’s capabilities in Gaza, Hezbollah’s capabilities in the north, damaging the Houthi infrastructure in Yemen and things that are of great importance to America,” he added. “Those are all of great importance to us, but in September of 2024, killing the man responsible for the 1983 bombing of the Marine Corps compound in Beirut, killing 241 Americans. You have a long memory. We have a long memory and may our relationship continue to endure.”
Hegseth also told Netanyahu that “I hope you’ve noticed here at the Defense Department under President Trump, we are laser focused on reviving the warrior ethos, on rebuilding America’s military and reestablishing deterrence, which is something you, prime minister, have done in your neighborhood in impressive, aggressive and important ways.”
Per the Pentagon transcript, Netanyahu told Hegseth that “you’ve been a great and stalwart friend of Israel, and we see President Trump and the team that he’s put together is extraordinary friends, extraordinary patriots of America and therefore also champions of the American-Israel Alliance.”
“I truly believe Israel obviously has no greater friend than the United States, and I think the United States has no better friend than Israel,” Netanyahu said.
“It’s an ally that perhaps is different from any of your allies because we have no compunction about fighting our enemies by ourselves. We’re willing to shoulder the burden of our defense,” the Israeli premier added. “But by confronting the forces of radicalism and terror and the forces that are anti-American at their core, they call you the ‘great Satan’ and they call us the ‘small Satan.’ We just stand in their way, but you are their great enemy.”
“By confronting these various enemies, we are not only defeating those who wish to attack us, but those who wish to attack you as well,” he added, “and therefore, our victory is your victory, and we are well ahead and well advanced in the pursuit of our war goals that will give security and peace.”
JNS
Source: https://www.jns.org/us-100-committed-to-israeli-security-hegseth-tells-netanyahu/
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