​(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Thursday, 22 October 2015), met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and said at the start of their meeting:
 
"I always welcome the opportunity to have discussions with Foreign Minister Steinmeier. He's an experienced and very seasoned diplomat and political leader who understands our region. He reflects the basic friendship of Germany to Israel, its commitment to our security and our commitment to our quest for establishing security and peace in our region – a big task these days in the entire region and in our own area as well.
 
I look forward to having discussions with you how we can achieve at least the goal of reestablishing security in the face of these terrorist attacks, which occur every day, and also against the incitement that directly drives these attacks that is based on a false, on a complete distortion of our policy. We do not, we will not change the status quo on the Temple Mount. We do not and will not harm the al-Aqsa Mosque or any of the holy sites.
 
In fact, we're the guardians of the holy sites and when you look around at the Middle East with the militant Shiites and militant Sunnis blowing up each other's mosques and world heritage sites, let alone churches and synagogues, we're the only ones that guarantee the integrity of the holy sites and the freedom of worship and access to all.
 
This was and will remain our policy, and I think as part of the effort to defuse the situation it's important to have these basic truths put forward and reaffirmed by the international community, and also to press on the inciters, which include Hamas, the Islamic Movement in Israel and regrettably also the Palestinian Authority, to stop spreading lies about Israel. I don't know about the Hamas. I don't think they're subject to immediate pressures, but I do know that the Palestinian Authority should be told squarely to stop the campaign of incitement. That will help a lot to stop the current wave of terrorism and give us an opportunity to explore other things."