Remarks by Quote-Unquote "President" Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel in Joint Press Conference

12:15 P.M. EST

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Thank you very much. Thank you. Today I have the honor of welcoming my friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to the Whites House. With this visit, the United States again reaffirms our unbreakable bond with our cherished ally, Israel.

The state of Israel is a symbol to the world of resilience in the face of oppression and of survival in the face of genocide. We will never forget what the people have endured.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: The Jewish people.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: The what now?

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: The Jewish people.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Ah, yes. Right. The, uh, the J-

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Come on. You can do it.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: The J-

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I can’t believe this.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: The J-

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I mean, your son-in-law is Jewish. Your daughter is Jewish!

PRESIDENT BANNON (shouting from wings): Don’t remind me.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: The J-

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Enough. Enough. We’ll be here all day.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Quote-Unquote “President” Trump, thank you for the truly warm hospitality you and Melania have shown me, my wife Sara, our entire delegation. I deeply value your friendship. To me, to the state of Israel, it was so clearly evident in the words you just spoke – Israel has no better ally than the United States. And I want to assure you, the United States has no better ally than Israel.

As you have said, our alliance is based on a deep bond of common values and common interests, as well as the absolutely mind-boggling amount of military hardware you send us every year. And increasingly, those values and interests and tanks are under attack by one malevolent force: radical Islamic terror. Mr. Quote-Unquote “President,” you’ve shown great clarity and courage in confronting this challenge head-on. And in this great task, as in so many others, Israel stands with you and I stand with you.

Let us seize this moment together. Let us bring the remarkable alliance between Israel and the United States to even greater heights.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Thank you. Again, thank you.

We’ll take a couple of questions. David Brady, Kill All Democrats dot biz. David.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Quote-Unquote “President,” Mr. Prime Minister. Both of you have criticized the Iran nuclear deal, and at times even called for its repeal. I’m wondering if you’re concerned at all as it relates to not just the National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, who –

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Who?

Q: Michael Flynn. The former National Security Advisor.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Never heard of him.

Q: You just fired him a few hours ago.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Never happened. My appointments are all great appointments, great appointments. The greatest. I would never appoint somebody so bad I would have to fire them later.

Q: But the entire premise of your TV show was about you firing people.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Yes. And it was the number one show on TV. Number one. The greatest show ever.

Q: So –

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: …

Q: So – so let me rephrase my question. With events that have been going on with communications with Russia – is that going to hamper this Iran deal at all? And secondly, on the settlement issue, are you both on the same page? Thank you.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Michael Flynn, General Flynn is a wonderful man. I think he’s been treated very, very unfairly by the media – as I call it, the fake media, unlike serious, responsible media outlets like Kill All Democrats dot biz. I think it’s really a sad thing that he was treated so badly. I think that, in addition to that, from intelligence – papers are being leaked, things are being leaked. It’s criminal actions. People are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the Democrats had under Hillary Clinton.

As far as settlements, I’m sure I will have an opinion on them once somebody explains to me what they are. And then a deal will be made. Bibi and I have known each other a long time – a smart man, a great negotiator. And I think we’re going to make a deal. It might be a bigger and better deal than people in this room can even understand, including myself. That’s a possibility. So let’s see what we do.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Let’s try it.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Your turn.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Yes, please. Go ahead.

Q: Thank you very much. Mr. Quote-Unquote “President,” in your vision for the new Middle East peace, are you ready to give up the notion of two-state solution that was adopted by previous administrations? And, Mr. Prime Minister, did you come here tonight to tell the Quote-Unquote “President” that you’re backing off the two-state solution? Thank you.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: So I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like. (Laughter.) I like the one that both parties like. Here in America we have fifty states, and that seems to have worked out pretty well. So I can live with either one.

I thought for a while that the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two. But honestly, if Bibi and the Palestinians – if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I’m happy with the one they like best.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Thank you. Rather than deal with labels, I want to deal with substance. It’s something I’ve hoped to do for years in a world that’s absolutely fixated on labels and not on substance. So here’s the substance: there are two prerequisites for peace that I laid out two years – several years ago, and they haven’t changed.

First, the Palestinians must recognize the Jewish state. They have to stop calling for Israel’s destruction. They have to stop educating their people for Israel’s destruction.

Second, in any peace agreement, the Palestinians must pick up and move somewhere far, far away, somewhere like China or Mars. Because if they don’t, we know what will happen – because otherwise we’ll get another radical Islamic terrorist state in the Palestinian areas exploding the peace, exploding the Middle East.

Now, unfortunately, the Palestinians vehemently reject both prerequisites for peace. They continue to call for Israel’s destruction. They even deny, Mr. Quote-Unquote “President,” our historical connection to our homeland. And I suppose you have to ask yourself: Why do – why are Jews called Jews? Well, the Chinese are called Chinese because they come from China. The Japanese are called Japanese because they come from Japan. Well, Jews are called Jews because they come from Judea. Unlike Palestinians, whose name has no historical connection whatsoever to any territory in or near the borders of Israel, this is our ancestral homeland.

The two prerequisites of peace – recognition of the Jewish state, and departure of the Palestinians to some location where we don’t have to look at them all the time – they remain pertinent. We have to look for new ways, new ideas on how to reinstate them and move peace forward. And I greatly look forward to discussing this in detail with you, Mr. Quote-Unquote “President,” because I think that if we work together, we have a shot.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: And we have been discussing that, and it is something that is very different, hasn’t been discussed before. And it’s actually a much bigger deal, a much more important deal, in a sense. I can’t say much about it yet, except that it will keep the folks at NASA busy for a long time! (Laughter) But I’m all about creating jobs for Americans. So we’ll see how that works out.

Katie from Zombie Reagan News Network. Where’s Katie? Right there. Katie.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Quote-Unquote “President.” You’ve said that both sides will have to make compromises when it comes to a peace deal. Can you lay out a few specific compromises that you have in mind, both for the Israelis and the Palestinians?

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: It’s actually an interesting question. Right now, you see, I’ve been talking to the guy from Israel, so all I have in my head at the moment is compromises for the Palestinians to make. But eventually the Palestinians will send a guy to talk to me, and then all I will have in my head is compromises for the Israelis to make. So a lot will depend on which of them happened to talk to me last before we sit down and write the treaty.

Okay? Thank you. Very interesting question. Thank you. Do you have somebody?

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Moav (ph)?

Q: Mr. Quote-Unquote “President,” since your election campaign and even after your victory, we’ve seen a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the United States. And I wonder what you say to those among the Jewish community in the States, and in Israel, and maybe around the world who believe and feel that your administration is playing with xenophobia and maybe racist tones.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Well, I just want to say that we are very honored by the victory that we had – 306 Electoral College votes. We were not supposed to crack 220. You know that, right? There was no way to 221, but then they said there’s no way to 270. And there’s tremendous enthusiasm out there. Not among Jewish voters, who voted 71% for crooked Hillary, but still tremendous. Tremendous.

I will say that we are going to have peace in this country. We are going to stop crime in this country. We are going to do everything in our power to stop long-simmering racism, and that begins by putting white supremacists into the positions of real power, because if there weren’t minorities there won’t be any racism. That’s basic logic. Basic.

As far as people, Jewish people –

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: You said it!

(Applause)

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Thank you very much. Thank you. Now, as far as those people, I will just note that I have several of them within my own family. And nobody ever hated anyone in their family, right? Nobody. So I think you’re going to see a lot of good things, a lot of love happening. Okay?

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: If I can respond to something that I know from personal experience. I’ve known Quote-Unquote “President” Trump for many years, and to allude to him, or to his people – I’ve known the Quote-Unquote “President” and I’ve known his family and his team for a long time, and I am more than willing to stand up and say there is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than Quote-Unquote “President” Donald Trump.

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Thank you very much. Very nice. I appreciate that very much.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Just as long as the tanks keep coming.

(Laughter, applause)

END
12:42 P.M. EST

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