With the new deadline reached today, House Speaker John Boehner arrived in Israel as he and a congressional delegation traveled there after stops to Jordan and  Iraq Sunday and Monday. Boehner was greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Iran nuclear negotiations are winding down.

Boehner said without naming names, “Regardless of where in the Middle East we have been, the message has been the same, ‘You can not continue to turn your eye away from the threat that faces all of us.’ ” Boehner went on to say during a joint public statement with Netanyahu, “The bonds between the United States and Israel are as strong as ever. Our two countries cooperate on many different levels. And while we may have political disagreements from time to time, the bonds between our two nations are strong and they’re going to continue to be strong,”

Netanyahu, like Boehner, did not mention names but said, “The Middle East is plagued by anti-Western, anti-democratic and anti-American extremism. Terrorists brutally behead their shackled captives before video cameras. Despots lead their people with chants of ‘Death to America’ while building intercontinental missiles to reach America.”

After an hour and a half private meeting with Speaker Boehner, Netanyahu made a second statement, saying, “Iran’s claim that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes doesn’t square with Iran’s insistence on keeping underground nuclear facilities, advanced centrifuges and a heavy water reactor. Nor does it square with Iran’s insistence on developing ICBMs and its refusal to come clean with the IAEA on its past weaponization efforts.”

Prior to returning to the states, Boehner also has a meeting scheduled with Israel’s defense minister Moshe Yaalon.

  house, iran, israel, john boehner, metanyahu, negotiations, speaker, united states