Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, 5 Cheshvan, made the following remarks regarding this week’s US presidential elections at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in the presence of reporters.

“This week elections will be held in the United States. Whoever is elected, the new president, I am convinced that US-Israel relations, which are solid and strong, will not only remain as such, but will further strengthen. We also expect that the US will remain faithful to the principle that it has set over many years, that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute can be resolved only by direct negotiations without preconditions, and of course, not in decisions by the UN or other international institutions. I would like to note that the alliance with the US is the first, most fundamental and most important of all of our relationships. Thus it has been and thus it will continue.

At the same time, of course, Israel is developing relations with many other countries including the world’s major powers. Last week, the Chinese government’s highest organ, the NDRC was here and held a series of very productive talks. I request that Prime Minister’s Office Director General Eli Groner, who worked with them, deliver a short briefing to the Cabinet on progress in these talks, which are very important for the Israeli economy. This week Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will visit Israel. These talks reflect the continued tightening of bilateral relations with Russia. The following week President Reuven Rivlin will visit India to continue tightening relations with that important country. All of these reflect the strengthening of Israel’s position on the international plane, which stems from our special capabilities in security, the economic sphere and in technology.

We also have relations, of course, with many other countries, in Africa, Latin America and in other places as well. One of the things we have been giving special attention to over the past five years is to find alternatives to fuels for use in public transportation. The use of gasoline, petroleum, is mostly for public transportation. We are trying to promote the global liberation from this dependence and Israel is becoming a global leader in finding alternatives for petroleum-based fuels. We are doing this in order to create a cleaner, healthier and better world.

Last week there was an annual conference at which we awarded a prize to outstanding researchers in this field, for the second time it has gone to Greek researchers. To my regret, I was unable to attend due to problems with passing the budget, which the government must have, but I would like to emphasize how much we view this as central and important, and point out with satisfaction that many start-ups have now arisen in Israel that are developing alternative energy and revolutionary methods for more efficient, safer and cleaner transportation.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)