Thread by @IsraeliPM

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met this morning, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

The leaders inaugurated the Honduran Embassy in Jerusalem. 🇮🇱🇭🇳

gov.il/en/departments…

The leaders met privately and then held a working meeting with the participation of Foreign Minister Lapid, Honduran Secretary of State for Foreign Relations and International Cooperation Banegas, the Honduran Minister of the Presidency and the head of the Honduran tax authority.

Following the meeting, the foreign ministers signed a bilateral MOU regarding plans and projects in agriculture, water resource management, health and sharing information on developing innovation.

"Your arrival to inaugurate the Honduran Embassy in Jerusalem, the reopening of the Israeli Embassy in Tegucigalpa and the cooperation agreement we just signed, are an additional indicatIon of the abiding friendship and deep link between Israel and Honduras, under your leadership

Mr. President @JuanOrlandoH, you are a true friend of Israel. The Jewish people have a long memory and you will inscribed on the pages of history as one who took a courageous and correct action for the State of Israel. Thank you.

Bilateral cooperation is very multi-faceted, beginning with trade, agriculture and water, and continuing through to diplomatic and security issues. In the past year we all came together to fight the coronavirus.

Every country is still dealing with the pandemic in its own way. We also have the goal of deepening cooperation and we have agreed on expanding into high-tech and cyber, among other fields.

Under your leadership Honduras has consistently stood alongside Israel in international institutions even when that was not always popular and even when it occasionally exacted a price.

This attests to friendship – the willingness to take actions that entail paying a price. I would like to thank you and the Honduran public for this support.

We have also seen this recently during Operation Guardian of the Walls, in which the Hamas terrorist organization fired thousands of rockets at the citizens of Israel even as it cynically used the people of Gaza – women, children and the elderly – as human shields.

This was a double war crime: Firing at Israeli citizens and immediately harming the citizens and residents of Gaza.

We regret that Hamas has consistently chosen to invest in terrorism instead of in education, infrastructures and economic development. What has been is not what will be. Regarding Gaza, our rule is simple: Actions determine. They will be judged not by words but by deeds.

We will now sign the agreements on expanding cooperation between the countries, and I am convinced that these agreements, and your friendship, will take bilateral relations to new heights of cooperation. Mr. President, First Lady, welcome to Jerusalem, Our home is also your home.