Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed his cabinet on Sunday morning and confirmed the agreement had taken place and set the record straight regarding the $38 billion military aid deal between Israel and the US.
(Watch the video below the transcript)
Talking about the deal Netanyahu said the following:
Last week we signed the security assistance agreement with the United States for the coming decade.
Israel will receive $38 billion in order to strengthen our military and our defensive systems against missiles.
I would like to thank President Obama, the American Congress and the American people.
The support of Israel in the United States is stronger than ever. It crosses political parties and embraces the length and breadth of the United States and it finds expression in this agreement.
This is the largest assistance agreement that the United States has ever provided to any country in its history and this agreement proves the depth of the relationship, and the strength of relations between Israel and the United States.
I hear all kinds of background noise and disinformation about the agreement. I would like to make it clear: We were never offered more.
We were not offered more money, not even one dollar, and we were never offered special technologies. These are distortions and fabrications of interest parties; either they do not have the facts or they are distorting the facts. And they are, of course, showing ingratitude, and in my view this is the saddest thing of all. Ingratitude to our greatest and best friend, the United States.
This is an agreement that will greatly strengthen the security of Israel, and we should all welcome it and express our appreciation to the United States.
In his address, Netanyahu also talks about the security situation in light of recent stabbing attacks, addresses the risk from Syria after last week rockets came over the border, and looked forward to the UN General Assembly taking place in New York this week.
Watch the video is below (please ensure subtitles on YouTube are on to view subtitles in English).
