PM: ‘Absurd’ to suggest Israel will have to repay favor of Jerusalem recognition

Netanyahu once again hails US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying it fixed “a historic anomaly.”

He dismisses the notion that Israel will have to make any concessions to the Palestinians “in return for the favor.”

“It was a historic anomaly, and it was about time that it was changed,” he says. “The idea that we have to give anything in return is absurd.”

Trump didn’t make his promise last week to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “as a give and take,” Netanyahu adds. “He repaired a historic wrong, and over time it will be seen as such.”

The prime minister says he is not yet fully aware of Trump’s peace proposal, but notes that Jerusalem is one of the “core issues” that will be on the table.

“We never ruled out that Jerusalem be discussed. The Palestinians have their positions on it, and they are free to bring them up,” he says.

“We never rule out discussions — we rule out results,” he says, adding that his government’s opposition to a partition of Jerusalem is well-known.

During the briefing in Paris, Netanyahu also praises Israel’s security establishment for having detected and destroyed a Hamas terror tunnel from Gaza into Israel over the weekend.

However, he adds that it was a “cat and mouse game,” in that Israel’s enemies will work to find ways to bypass the Israeli technologies that detected the tunnel.

“It will take time [until we completely eliminate the problem of terror tunnels], but there is no doubt progress,” he says.

— Raphael Ahren