Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin reinforced their military cooperation over Syria in a meeting during the climate conference in Paris on Monday.
Mr Netanyahu said: “The events of recent days prove the importance of our coordination, our de-confliction mechanisms, our attempts to cooperate with each other to prevent unnecessary accidents and tragedies, and I believe that we’ve been successful. It’s important.
“Secondly, I think we are engaged in a big battle against militant Islam, the terrorism it spews forward, the savagery, the barbarism. And this is another point of contact in addition to many others that we’re engaged in. I hope that Israel and Russia can see eye to eye on all the strategic matters, but I want to assure you that we believe that it’s within our powers to have very good coordination on the ground and in the air so that we do not create the kind of problems that we’ve been experiencing.”
Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the site of the Bataclan concert hall and a Jewish school in Paris while her husband met the Russian president.
Mrs Netanyahu told students at Lucien de Hirsch secondary school, “The State of Israel is your home”. She also visited Le Petit Cambodge, one of the restaurants also attacked on November 13.
Earlier the Prime Minister’s office played down reports of a meeting between Mr Netanyahu and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Paris, claiming they just shook hands. Yesterday Mr Netanyahu announced a suspension of any discussion with the EU over the peace process following an EU decision to label products produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Mr Putin passed on his good wishes for a happy Chanukah to Mr Netanyahu during their meeting in Paris. Mr Putin said the holiday “symbolizes the triumph of light over dark” and hoped the spirit of the festival would extend to “international affairs”.
