The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave US President Donald Trump an effusive greeting on his arrival in Israel on the first-ever direct flight from Riyadh to Tel Aviv.
Speaking from a podium erected on the tarmac of Ben Gurion airport, Mr Netanyahu said: “Never before has the first foreign trip of the president of the United States included a visit to Israel,” he says. “Thank you, Mr President. Thank you for this powerful expression of your friendship to Israel.
“Mr President, yesterday in Saudi Arabia you delivered a forceful speech on terrorism and extremism, called on forces of civilization to confront the forces of barbarism. For 69 years, Israel has been doing just that. We’ve manned the front-lines of civilization.
“Mr President, you just flew from Riyadh to Tel Aviv,” he says. “I hope that one day an Israeli prime minister can fly from Tel Aviv to Riyadh.”
