Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Iran's nuclear program and developing bilateral trade ties with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his Jerusalem office on Wednesday.
Netanyahu said he briefed Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about a trove of documents on Iran's "nuclear archives" seized by Israeli intelligence agents that he revealed earlier this week.
Netanyahu added that countries that don't seek to build nuclear weapons generally don't prepare plans, as the seized documents prove Iran did, and certainly don't preserve them.
He said that in light of Iran's deceit, a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers, in which Iran pledged to abandon its nuclear project, was clearly a bad deal.
Netanyahu also condemned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' anti-Semitic remarks at a Palestinian National Council meeting on Monday, in which the Palestinian leader said the Holocaust was the result not of anti-Semitism but the Jews' own "social activities." Abbas also argued in the speech that the establishment of Israel was a European colonial project.
Netanyahu said Abbas' remarks revealed the true reason for the failure of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
Netanyahu and Abe also discussed bilateral relations between Israel and Japan.
"This is your second visit to Israel," Netanyahu told Abe. "My most recent visit to Japan was spectacular. We are seeing tremendous growth in Japanese investments in Israel, Israeli investments in Japan, the technology opportunities. This is a great partnership and we'll make it even better."
Abe, for his part, said he hoped Netanyahu would visit Japan in the near future. He said he was "very happy to note that there has been the dramatic increase in the Japanese investment in Israel under my administration."
"And also this time around, I brought a business delegation from Japan to Israel, which includes so many of the CEOs from Japan," Abe went on to say. "So I do hope that you'll have a productive discussion with the business leaders in the summit meetings that we are planning to have. And also I do hope that we'll further investment development between the two sides."
Netanyahu and Abe agreed to move ahead with plans for direct flights between Israel and Japan.
Following their meeting, the two prime ministers met with Japanese business people. Welcoming the tightening trade relations between the two countries, Netanyahu remarked that "This is only the beginning."
Earlier, Abe met with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in the West Bank city of Jericho and toured an agricultural park bankrolled by Japan. A day prior, Abe met with Abbas after arriving from Jordan.
