Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with new US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Richard Nides today (Sunday, 5 December 2021), at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem. At the start of the meeting, the Prime Minister and the Ambassador lit candles for the eighth night of Hanukkah.
Following are Prime Minister Bennett's remarks at the start of the meeting:
"I want to welcome you, Mr. Ambassador to Israel, to Jerusalem.
“I could not think of a better opportunity than the eighth candle of Hanukkah.
“Hanukkah is a symbol of light, and how light can prevail upon darkness. And right over here, about 2,100 years ago, the Maccabees were fighting a much bigger enemy, but we prevailed. We prevailed because we fought for good, we fought for freedom.
“Now it's with much pride that I stand here as the prime minister of Israel, with our biggest friend in the world, the United States of America.
“It has been said so many times that we share common values, but it's not a cliché. I mean, we use it a lot, but it's a, it's simply a profound truth, the most fundamental values—values of freedom.
“The Jewish people who were a symbol of freedom in America, who brought democracy and freedom to the world—values of good faith, of cooperation. Values of doing good, simply waking up in the morning and trying to do good, even while we're sometimes imperfect.
“It's now going to be, next week, half a year for this new government. When we formed the government, we called it a government of good will and good spirit. And this good spirit is not only domestically, but it's also between us and the United States of America.
“I want to thank President Biden and the administration for the warm friendship, for the candidness, for the approach of bringing Israel yet again to be a bipartisan issue, and not partisan.
“I know we're going to do a lot of great things together. Welcome back to Israel and best of luck, my friend."