The Prime Minister welcomed the members of the delegation on their arrival and thanked them for the broad support for the State of the Israel among the American public. He also briefed them on the fighting in the Gaza Strip and answered their questions.

Netanyahu said the members of the delegation were “long-time friends of Israel” and called them “great supporters.”

“It’s very important for us to maintain bipartisan support at all times,” he told them, “but especially in these trying times. I want to use this opportunity of our conversation to try to straighten out and also dispel some of the things that are being said about our bipartisan alliance and the importance of maintaining it.”

Netanyahu also told them that Iran “officially launched, along with Hezbollah, a campaign, which means Hamas, the Houthis and so on, but the formal policy is to shift from an ideological position of destroying Israel to a practical, long-term plan to bring about the destruction of the state.”

“We have to win. There is no substitute for victory,” he added.

“Our goal is to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas in Gaza,” Netanyahu told them. “Hamas has to be eliminated.”

“The second thing was to get our hostages out. They are simultaneous goals, because the military action is what produces the pressure to release the hostages. We’ve released half. We intend to release all of them. The third thing is to ensure that, indeed that Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel again.”

The delegation included Brad Schneider (D-IL), Jim Costa (D-CA), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Marilyn Strickland (D-WA), Norma Torres (D-CA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), as well as senior AIPAC officials.

Image -  Haim Zach/GPO