​(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Sunday, 19 August 2018), met with US National Security Adviser John Bolton over dinner at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer also attended.
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu made the following remarks at the start of the dinner:
 
"Ambassador Bolton, John, it’s a pleasure to see you. We’ve been friends for many years, and I can testify that in and out of office, you’ve been a tremendous friend – tremendous friend of Israel, tremendous champion of the American-Israel alliance.
 
And it’s particularly momentous to welcome you here, after the momentous decisions of President Trump, to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and get out of the terrible Iran deal.
 
I look forward to discussing with you a whole array of topics, but the most important one is how to continue to roll back Iran’s aggression in the region and to make sure that they never have nuclear weapons. Many other things, but I think this is a good starting point."
 
US National Security Adviser Bolton said:
 
"It’s a great honor to be here. It’s great to see you again and talk about the US-Israel relationship.
 
It’s been an exciting year and a half in the Trump administration with some of the things you’ve mentioned. Obviously we’ve got great challenges, for Israel, for the United States and the whole world. The Iran nuclear weapons program, the ballistic missile programs are right at the top of the list. So I’m delighted to be here, and look forward to our discussions."