The world needs to understand that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, President Reuven Rivlin said on Monday.
Rivlin received Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the President's Residence for a private meeting to receive an update following the Prime Minister’s return from the United States.
The two spoke about the Prime Minister’s visit to the United States, his address to the UN General Assembly, and his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama.
"The region is currently engaged in a very difficult struggle against terrorism, we struck hard against this terror this summer in the south, the United States is leading the global fight against the Islamic State forces, and we are supporting this fight in all that is asked of us, and we also extended our hands in peace to all of our neighbors who want peace, and I think these are the things that express the great partnership and the unity of the people that you express so well," Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting.
President Rivlin responded to the Prime Minister’s words and said, “One of the more significant elements of our national unity, is the general agreement on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the world needs to understand that, Jerusalem is our capital and as our capital, we need to allow the residents of the city to live and reside in it.”
Netanyahu added, "When this happens in the capital of Israel, do we have to apologize? Or to cancel it? Not in my opinion, not in your opinion, and not in the opinion of any sensible Jew or indeed any reasoned and fair-minded person.”
The comments follow a spat between the U.S. and Israel over Israeli plans to build 2,610 new homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Hamatos. The housing units were slated for construction since 2012 and were given final approval last week.
The U.S. criticized the move, with State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki using unusually harsh language in doing so and saying the step would “poison the atmosphere”.
Netanyahu later fired back at the United States’ criticism, telling NBC News' Andrea Mitchell that the U.S. should study the facts before it criticizes Israel over its construction.
In another interview which aired Sunday, this time on CBS, Netanyahu said that the White House’s rebuke of Israeli construction in Jerusalem goes “against American values”.
“It’s against the American values. And it doesn’t bode well for peace,” Netanyahu said. “The idea that we’d have this ethnic purification as a condition for peace, I think it’s anti-peace.”
The comments elicited a response from the White House, whose spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday that the criticism of America for its concern over Israel's construction in Jerusalem was “odd”.
“When it comes to American values, it’s American values that led to this country’s unwavering support of Israel,” Earnest said. “It’s American values that have led us to fund an Iron Dome system” which protected Israeli cities from attacks by Hamas terrorists during Operation Protective Edge.

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