(Hudson Institute) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about Israel's relationship with Russia at the Hudson Institute on Thursday. He said Russia's first interest is to make sure that militant Islam doesn't penetrate and destabilize Russia, noting that there are many millions of Muslims in Russia, including up to two million in greater Moscow. Moreover, Netanyahu said he told President Putin that in the aftermath in Syria, "we don't want to see an Iranian military presence, we don't want to see Shi'ite militias which Iran is organizing from Afghanistan, from Pakistan, and we certainly don't want to see Iranian game-changing weapons being transferred through Syrian territory to Hizbullah in Lebanon....We do not allow Iran to form a second terror front on our borders. And we act against that." He added, "I don't think there's a substitute or an alternative for Israel's tremendous alliance with the United States. This is the first alliance and irreplaceable alliance....It's the one alliance we have...that is based on shared values....It's the identification of the American people that Israel is like the United States and the United States is like Israel."
2016-09-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive