Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged the United States on Sunday to heed calls against any removal of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps from the US terrorism blacklist.
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"We're concerned about the intention to delist the IRGC," Bennett told visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "I hope the United States will hear the concerned voices from the region, Israel's and others, on this very important issue."
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Blinken met in Jerusalem on Sunday morning ahead of the historic Negev summit that will see Israel host the top diplomats from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Egypt.
Blinken arrived in Israel on Saturday night and met with Bennett ahead of the trailblazing meeting of the foreign ministers, which is said to underscore the shift in Mideast geopolitics.
The summit is taking place at the Isrotel Kedma Hotel in the Negev desert and will be followed by an official dinner. The ministers are expected to hold various work meetings on Monday.
According to the Foreign Ministery, the summit will focus on regional threats, challenges, and opportunities. The Vienna negotiation on a new nuclear deal with Iran and the threat the Islamic republic poses to the region are expected to take center stage, as will the Russia-Ukraine war.
At the same time, Israel will do anything we believe is needed to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Anything. From our point of view, the Iranian threat is not theoretical. The Iranians want to destroy Israel. They will not succeed. We will not let them.
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) March 27, 2022
The UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco normalized relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
Bennett visited Egypt last week where he participated in another first: a trilateral summit with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan.
Ahead of traveling to southern Israel, Lapid and Blinken held a press conference in which the latter stressed that he and Lapid see "eye to eye" on the need to prevent Iran from being a nuclear state, but argued the Iran nuclear deal was the most effective way to put Tehran's nuclear program "back in the box it was in."
"Beyond its nuclear efforts, Iran continues to engage in a whole series of destabilizing activities," he said, denouncing the recent attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran, on Saudi and Emirati civilians and infrastructure.
"The US will continue to stand up to Iran when it threatens us or when it threatens our allies and partners," Blinken stressed. "We are fully committed to expanding cooperation through the Abraham Accords."
Washington's top diplomat further lauded Bennett's mediation efforts in the Ukraine crisis, saying the US "greatly appreciates Israel's strong repudiation of Russia's aggression against Ukraine."
This morning we discussed two main topics: the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a possible nuclear agreement with Iran. pic.twitter.com/MCigBxe3Ll
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) March 27, 2022
Ahead of the Negev summit, the US secretary of state said Washington was "fully committed to expanding cooperation through the Abraham Accords" that normalized ties between Israel and Arab states and thanked Lapid for initiating efforts to expand the accords.
"Normalization is becoming the new normal," he said.
Blinken, who is also scheduled to visit Ramallah and meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the tri, said he will reiterate to the Palestinian leader that the Biden administration is committed to strengthening ties with the PA.
Lapid, who spoke ahead of his American counterpart, praised the Abraham Accords and the Arab diplomats arriving in Israel.
"The relationship between our two countries is unbreakable," he said of Israel and the US. "This is the closest friendship and the strongest alliance that Israel has. We share vital values and interests. We share a vision of peace with power.
"These days we are a reminder of the fact that if you want peace, you must be able to defend it. Military and political power are not an obstacle to peace, they are the only thing that can guarantee it."
After emphasizing that the US and Israel shared "a vision of peace through strength," Lapid stressed that "Iran is not an Israeli problem. The world cannot afford a nuclear Iran. The world cannot afford for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to continue spreading terror around the globe.
"We have disagreements about a nuclear agreement and its consequences, but open and honest dialogue is part of the strength of our friendship. Israel and the United States will continue to work together to prevent a nuclear Iran.
"At the same time, Israel will do anything we believe is needed to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Anything. From our point of view, the Iranian threat is not theoretical. The Iranians want to destroy Israel. They will not succeed. We will not let them." he pledged.
Following the summit, Blinken will travel to Morocco and Algeria to consult with officials there on a variety of regional and international issues, including the war in Ukraine, Iran's efforts to destabilize the region, the Abraham accords that normalized ties between Arab states and Israel, Israeli-Palestinians ties, as well as maintaining the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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