Netanyahu Takes Aim at Trump Policy: "If American Citizens Were Being Killed, the U.S. Wouldn’t Agree to a Ceasefire"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Sunday night at the JNS International Policy Conference, which opened in Jerusalem. The conference will continue through the end of the week and includes senior government, security, and policy officials from Israel, the United States, and other countries. They will discuss Middle East issues, Israel-U.S. relations, the fight against antisemitism, the Iranian threat, and the challenges of regional security.

Netanyahu said during the conference: "Can you imagine if the United States had thousands of terrorists standing on the other side of the border, with drones, and they were killing its citizens — what would America do? Do nothing? Agree to a ceasefire? No. You know very well that it would cross the border, create a security zone, remove the threat, and protect its citizens."

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee addressed tensions between Israel and the United States. He first said, with a smile, that before coming to the conference he checked to make sure he had not been fired from his position because of the backing he has given to Israel’s operations in Lebanon.

Huckabee warned in his remarks about the regime in Tehran and argued that it cannot be trusted in any way. "Iran sees harming Israel as only an initial stage on the way to the destruction of the United States. The Iranians want to kill every last American. The American public is not sufficiently aware of the Iranian danger or the scale of its threat to the U.S. Iran has always been an existential threat that must be treated with the utmost seriousness."

According to him, U.S. President Donald Trump made unequivocally clear that "if the talks do not lead to the desired result, there will be significant consequences. I will not quote his words exactly because I do not want to curse, but the message he conveyed was very clear and left no room for doubt."

Huckabee emphasized that Trump’s position regarding Iran’s nuclear program remains firm. "President Trump made unequivocally clear that Iran will never have nuclear weapons," he said, adding that Iran cannot continue supporting its proxy organizations, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, which he said threaten stability and security in the Middle East.

Later in his remarks, the ambassador addressed relations between Jerusalem and Washington and said that "the President of the United States and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have a close relationship based on trust, cooperation, and shared values." According to him, the strategic bond between the two countries continues to be a central component of American policy in the region.