Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Tuesday, 30 June 2015), met with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentilloni and said at the start of their meeting:

"I would like to send my best wishes for a rapid and full recovery to the Israeli citizens who were wounded last night in the terrorist attack near Shilo and to the soldier who was stabbed near Rachel's Tomb. Attempts to attack us do not halt even for a moment. The ISA and IDF have foiled dozens of terrorist attacks since the start of the year and over 200 since the start of 2014. We are determined to take strong action and deal with the terrorists to the fullest extent of the law. The fact that up until now, the Palestinian Authority has not condemned these attacks needs to bother not only us, but also the international community as a whole. Those who do not take an unequivocal stand against terrorism cannot wash their hands.

“Today, after years of discussions, we will present the outline that we formulated on extracting gas from the sea. It will be presented to all Israeli citizens, before the entire nation. This outline breaks up the gas monopoly and will put hundreds of billions of shekels into the treasury for Israeli citizens' social welfare, health, education and many other needs. Populism is surging around us. Nobody has really examined this outline and now it will be possible to do so. I have never given in to populism. I have enacted many reforms that saved the Israeli economy in the face of strong opposition and today, with the perspective of 10-15 years, it is possible to judge how the Israeli economy has jumped forward while other economies that have not enacted these reforms and did not act as we did, and capitulated to populism – how they have been shaken, some to the point of collapse. I can also say that for some of them the gas has remained underground. This cannot be allowed to happen here. I trust in the common sense of Israel's citizens and I expect the public's representatives to act responsibly. We will do our utmost so that the gas is extracted from the sea."

"Our relationship is intact. It's going forward. It also reflects our common understanding that we live in a very tough neighborhood. Israel has to defend itself against the forces of terror. These forces committed three atrocities, three countries in three continents in one day just two days ago. And we are all under attack.

“When I look around, I think what we need to do is to have unequivocal condemnation of the terrorists and their sponsors. The greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world is Iran.

“Iran was just confirmed as a preeminent state sponsor of terrorism in a US State Department report. It also confirmed the continual abuse of human rights in Iran under the present government. Executions are up; imprisonments are up; the harassment of gays, minorities and others; the violation of human rights continues unabashedly in Iran under Rouhani and continues all the time outside Iran in the attacks, in the attempts at conquest, in the proxy wars that Iran is supporting, and in the global terror network that Iran is conducting in over 30 countries with its henchmen, Hezbollah, and directly through its own agents.
 
“We believe that it is a fundamental mistake to enable such a terrorist regime to get to nuclear weapons, which is what the proposed agreement will give them. It will give them a definite pathway to nuclear bombs – not a bomb, but nuclear bombs. It will also replenish their coffers with many billions, actually perhaps up to hundreds of billions of dollars, to enable them to continue their terrorism and aggression. This is something that is wrong. It is dangerous. It is dangerous for Israel, for Italy, for Europe, for the United States, for the world.

“The world is properly concerned and aghast at the violence and savagery of ISIS. No one would dream of allowing the Islamic State of ISIS to have nuclear weapons. Why would anyone consider giving the Islamic State of Iran, which is a lot more powerful than ISIS and acts with much greater power than ISIS to have additional power of nuclear weapons? That's a mistake. The Islamic State of Iran, the foremost sponsor of international terrorism, should not have access to nuclear weapons.

“We need a better deal. This deal should not pass.