PRESIDENT HERZOG: So welcome to Israel. Shalom, our dear friend, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. We are honored to have you in our midst, in our country. You have no idea how much it means to us in these challenging days and times that our nation has gone through and endured since October 7th. We are grateful to President Donald Trump for his friendship and solidarity with the people of Israel and the state of Israel, and we are grateful for his direct involvement in bringing back our hostages.
On October 7th, Israelis down there in the border from all facets of life went through hell - were abducted, kidnapped, beaten, raped, burned, and killed in cold-blooded murders. And we have gone out of that enormous challenge and pain and crisis to change the reality. The entire nation of Israel went to fight, and we have overcome our enemies. We always seek peace and we always wanted peace in our region, and I believe that your visit here - as well as your capabilities of changing and influencing our region - are enormous and can bring great hope to our people and the people of the region at large.
Most importantly, we are - we are screaming, aching, praying, working tirelessly to bring each and every one of our hostages back home. This is our biggest hope as a nation and as individuals, and I want to thank you for all this effort that you are carrying on this on behalf of this holy nation. Thank you very much.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for greeting me, and it's an honor to be back as the Secretary of State not even four weeks into the job. I wanted this one to be one of our first visits because of the issues before us and also because of the friendship and the solidarity between our two countries.
On the issue that you mentioned about the hostages, just know, on behalf of the President, I can tell you he is strongly and deeply committed to the goal of every single hostage returning home - every single one - and not resting, not being silent, not forgetting until all of them are home. We work in very close coordination with the government here, as you know, to make that a reality, and that remains a very strong priority.
And beyond that are the other challenges that we've all discussed and we're all aware of, and then the opportunities as well with what's happened in Lebanon most recently and the hope of finding a situation that provides not just enduring security but allows what are still 60-, 70,000 of your countrymen who have not been able to return to their homes up north and how critical it is for that security as well for that to happen.
And I would make the broader point - I made it earlier with the prime minister in our appearance before the media there - at the core of all of these challenges, whether it's Hizballah or Hamas or the terrorist groups that strike from - when Assad was in Syria and what we see even confronting America in Iraq, the Houthis, there's one thing. What's behind all of it? Iran. Iran. And by Iran I mean the regime.
I think it's always important to remind people that the people of Iran, which is an ancient and proud culture, is controlled by radical clerics who have driven that nation in the wrong direction and have isolated it from the world, but more importantly have created the single greatest source of destabilization and sponsor of terrorism and violence on the planet. And that we cannot forget. That - were it not for the regime in Tehran, many of these issues that we are confronting now would not be the same, and we cannot lose sight of that reality. It remains a fundamental challenge that we have before us.
But just know that there has been no stronger supporter of the state of Israel in the White House than President Trump, who I am honored to serve as his Secretary of State. And we wanted to come here to reaffirm those bonds and to ensure that you knew that we were going to be here to continue to work hand-in-hand until all these goals we share in common are achieved.
PRESIDENT HERZOG: Thank you. Bless you. Thank you very much.
