BICOM

The United States’ President and Israel’s Prime Minister reiterated the strong bilateral ties between the two countries during a meeting in New York yesterday.

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on the sidelines of the United Nations’ (UN) General Assembly, where Netanyahu will today deliver an address. American officials said that the meeting lasted for 30 minutes, while Israeli sources said it continued considerably longer.

In comments before the meeting, Netanyahu emphasised that “Israel has no greater friend than the United States of America, and America has no greater friend than Israel”. In particular, he highlighted the signing last week of a new ten-year military aid package worth £29bn and “extensive security and intelligence cooperation”.

He added: “The greatest challenge is, of course, the unremitting fanaticism. The greatest opportunity is to advance a durable peace. That’s a goal that I and the people of Israel will never give up on.”

Obama called the ties between the two countries “unbreakable,” saying it is a relationship based on “common values, family ties” and “a guiding principle… that it is important for America’s national security to ensure that we have a safe and secure Israel, one that can defend itself”.

Referring to the violence of the past few days, which has seen a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis, Obama said: “our hearts go out to those who have been injured, both Israeli and Palestinian. Clearly, there is great danger of not just terrorism, but also flare-ups of violence.”

No details were published of their subsequent meeting behind closed doors. However, an unnamed senior US official told the Wall St Journal that Obama raised “profound U.S. concerns about the corrosive effect” of settlements on the prospects for a two-state solution and that the two leaders have “never papered over their differences”. Obama had raised “concerns around settlement activity,” as well prior to the meeting.

There was no indication that they addressed suggestions Obama will launch a final peace initiative before leaving office in January.