Netanyahu meets with Noem, Rosen in Jerusalem

Kristi Noem, the U.S. secretary of homeland security, shared “unwavering support for the prime minister and the State of Israel” during a meeting on Sunday evening with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Jerusalem office, per an Israeli readout.

“She also expressed great appreciation for the prime minister’s policy of building a fence along the Egyptian border and for his conduct of the war,” Netanyahu’s office stated.

The prime minister’s military secretary, foreign policy adviser and spokesman attended the meeting, as did Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, per Netanyahu’s office.

The prime minister’s office also stated that he met with Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) earlier in the day. (JNS sought comment from Rosen’s office and from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.)

Israeli Minister Gideon Sa’ar also met with Noem on Monday, thanking her for her visit to Israel following the murders of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, two Israeli embassy staffers, a a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. He emphasized the visit as a sign of solidarity and the strong bond between the U.S. and Israel.

U.S. President Donald Trump “and his administration show great commitment to fighting terrorism and antisemitism,” Sa’ar said, adding: To our enemies I say today once again: Israel will never surrender to terrorism!”

Rosen on Sunday also discussed with Sa’ar the terrorist attack in Washington, D.C. “I thanked the Senator for her longstanding support for Israel,” Sa’ar said.

Huckabee stated that Noem would become the first ever U.S. cabinet secretary to take part in participate in an official Israeli Jerusalem Day celebration.

“On this Jerusalem Day, as thousands of Israeli soldiers are away from their families, courageously fighting terrorists in Gaza and 58 hostages are still being held captive in the dungeons of Gaza, I want the people of Israel to know to know,” Huckabee stated, “America stands with you."

“Your fight is our fight. Your enemies are our enemies,” the U.S. envoy wrote. “Israel’s victory is our victory, and together we will prevail and we will pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

David Friedman, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, thanked Noem for her “solidarity visit to the State of Israel in the aftermath of this week’s terrible terror attack in D.C. and for participating, along with Janet and Amb. Mike Huckabee, in a prayer at the Western Wall for a return of the hostages.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid Party extended condolences to the families of the young couple killed in Washington, D.C., during a party faction meeting on Monday.

Jewish communities “are under attack, antisemitic attack, all over,” he said, noting that Knesset members present had just returned from the Israel Day Parade in New York, “where they saw firsthand the kind of sadness and misery that landed upon the Jewish communities in the United States.”

He urged the Trump administration to work with Israel to oppose antisemitism in the U.S.

© JNS