(​Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks at the start of his meeting with European Union member state ambassadors:

"I look forward to our annual meeting, it's always good to meet, but these are auspicious times. I first want to congratulate the EU for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Would that we could replicate in the Middle East what was achieved in Europe. That is, decades of stability and peace and tranquility. That is our goal and we'll discuss how we can advance that goal, that all Israelis share fervently.

But especially today I want to commend the EU for the tough sanctions that were adopted yesterday against the greatest threat to peace in our time, and that is the tough sanctions against Iran. These sanctions are hitting the Iranian economy hard, they haven’t yet rolled back the Iranian program. We'll know that they're achieving their goal when the centrifuges stop spinning and when the Iranian nuclear program is rolled back. And I think that this is a goal that is shared by anyone who wants to guarantee the security and peace of the world, not only in the Middle East, but throughout the world. So these are momentous issues, momentous times, and it's time to continue discussing them."