Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Israeli President Isaac Herzog Before Their Meeting

PRESIDENT HERZOG: Good morning, Mr. Secretary. Welcome again to Israel. I must say that we feel you are a part of our nation in coming here again and again, and so showing such great friendship and support for the state of Israel, and we are indeed grateful for that.

In the last 24 hours, we have witnesses ongoing terror attacks by Palestinian terrorists. We have suffered the loss of Gideon Perry, a 38-year-old father of three, husband, a lover of music, who went to work in a plant and one of his pals in the working place decided to murder him simply because he's a Jew and an Israeli - a very great tragedy. Last night we've witnessed a suspected major terror attack in Tel Aviv, which is under investigation, with a possible suicide bomber. And this morning our soldiers have been attacked in Ya'ara - Ya'ara is on the border with Lebanon - by Hizballah terrorists with drones, and there are some - there is information that we have suffered possible casualties. We are under review of this. And this is the way we are living these days; we are surrounded by terror from the four corners of the Earth and we are fighting back as a resilient and strong nation.

And it also reflects - is reflected in the attitude of Hamas in the negotiations for the release of our hostages. Because one has to remember the refusal, the adamant refusal - and I've been following your statements on this for months. At the end, at the bottom line of it, people have to understand it starts with the refusal of Hamas to move forward.

We are simply still very hopeful that we can move forward in the negotiations that are held by the mediators, and I want to thank the United States, Egypt, and Qatar for their efforts on this - on behalf of this noble cause. There is no greater humanitarian objective and there's no greater humanitarian cause than bringing back our hostages home, as they should have returned long ago. We want to see them back home as soon as possible. There's no greater prayer and there's no greater hope and no greater effort, doing everything possible to bring them back home - and it is in fact the top agenda of world affairs these days, as projected by Security Council resolution which you, Mr. Secretary, brought forward and passed in a historic step, as well as, of course, the conclusions of all the leadership of the world and the G7 on this issue. So let's try our best and all our efforts to bring them back home alongside with protecting Israeli security interests.

And finally, Mr. Secretary, I want to thank the President of the United States of America, my good friend President Joe Biden, and the administration, the leadership of the United States, for supporting Israel in these very dire and complicated times. You have amassed a very powerful and impressive coalition of armies, navies, and powers that are here to protect the interests of the coalition of nations that wants to move towards peace and a better future in the Middle East against the empire of evil which starts and emanates in Tehran. I want to thank you personally, and I want to thank the President for showing and projecting power in this region, as should - as the message should be clear that no one should attack Israel or meddle with our clear, inherent right of self-defense.

Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, Mr. President, thank you very much. It's always good to be with you and good to be back in Israel. This is my ninth visit since October 7th to Israel, to the Middle East. And this is a decisive moment - probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.

I'm here as part of an intensive diplomatic effort on President Biden's instructions to try to get this agreement to the line and, ultimately, over the line. It is time for it to get done. It's also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process, and so we're working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places and to greater intensity.

I know this is a fraught moment in Israel with deep concern about the possibility of attacks coming from Iran, coming from Hizballah and other sources. And as you heard the president say, the United States has taken decisive action to deploy forces here to deter any attacks and, if necessary, to defend against any attacks.

But the focus of my visit is intensely on getting the hostages back, getting the ceasefire done. It is time for everyone to get to yes and to not look for any excuses to say no. I look forward to the day ahead, seeing the prime minister, defense minister, other senior officials. But as always, a pleasure to start the day with you.

And let me say, finally, that we mourn the losses that the president has just shared over the last 24 hours.

Thank you.

PRESIDENT HERZOG: Thank you very much.

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