Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Australia on Tuesday night, as part of a bid to bolster collaboration between Jerusalem and Canberra. Netanyahu and his wife Sara were received with an honor guard and a 21-gun salute. This is the first state visit by an Israeli prime minister to Australia. Netanyahu met Wednesday with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Governor General Peter Cosgrove. While in Australia, Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and the leaders of the local Jewish community, as well as attend an Israeli-Australian business conference. Video: Reuters After their meeting, Netanyahu and Turnbull held a press conference. Welcoming Netanyahu, Turnbull said, "Israel and Australia are very good, strong friends. From the charge of the Australian Light Horse Brigade in Beersheba 100 years ago, to the foundation of the State of Israel and the United Nations, to today, with a deep engagement in everything we canvassed, those areas of cooperation and engagement in our meeting. "Naturally we've talked about the security dimension, especially in the Middle East and indeed globally. We've talked about our cooperation on national security matters. We talked about how we can enhance our collaboration, especially on cybersecurity, where we both face the challenges that are being made by state actors and non-state actors to the digital platforms which are the foundation of our 21st century economies and way of life. "We've also talked about the remarkable achievement of Israel as truly a miraculous nation; a nation founded on the most ancient history, yet at the cutting edge of technology and innovation, inspiring others. Of course, as you know, we have our landing pad as part of our Innovation and Science Agenda in Israel. We are deepening that cooperation with agreement on technology and innovation, and we are enhancing, too, the people-to-people connections with an air services agreement. We are delighted at the way the working holiday visa arrangements have been operating. So many of our young people are traveling to each other's countries and getting to know the Australian way of life, the Israeli way of life. "We have so much in common, shared values, democracy, freedom, the rule of law. Two great democracies, one very small in area, one vast, but each of us big-hearted, generous, committed to freedom. Prime minister, you are so welcome here in Australia." Netanyahu thanked Turnbull for the warm welcome he and his wife received: "It is a good day, indeed a wonderful day. First of all, a remarkable experience landing here. ... I'm honored to be the first Israeli prime minister to officially visit Australia. God, it's been a long time coming! It celebrates, really, 100 years of friendship of Australia to the Jewish people and their state. "You mentioned, Malcolm, the charge of the Light Horse Brigade. This is not only etched in your memory; it is etched in our memory. In fact, we are going to celebrate this, and I've invited you and your delegation to mark this extraordinary event, the last successful cavalry charge in history that liberated Beersheba. We will celebrate this event in Beersheba, in Israel. We would like you to know that when you come there, you come as a great friend of our people and our civilization. "Because you rightly say, these are common values. This was reflected in the fact that Australian and Jewish soldiers fought the Nazi attempt to invade the eastern part of the Middle East, which would have put an end to Zionism. We remember Australia's contribution there. We remember that Australia was the first country to vote for the [1947] Partition Resolution that called for the establishment of a Jewish state. We never forget that, and we have since made so many advances and so much progress in so many areas, we are now facing a new future," he said. "The future belongs to those who innovate. Israel is an innovation nation; Australia is an innovation nation. You have entrepreneurs; we have entrepreneurs. Our task is to try to put them together more intensely, to cooperate for the benefit of our people and your people, and I think for the benefits of other countries as well. We've discussed this at great length. I think the opportunities are astounding, and we believe in our ability to seize the future. "As we do so, we also know that we face radical forces that seek to take all of humanity back to a dark past. We discussed how we can intensify our cooperation against this radical terrorism that reaches deep into every corner of the world, including to Australia. But I believe that we have not only the force of technology, but of conviction to defeat these forces," Netanyahu said. "I see a change in the Middle East, in many Arab countries, that recognize that they too are being threatened by these malignant forces. That gives me hope that in cooperating with them for our common security, we might also be able to advance the peace between us and them, and ultimately between us and our Palestinian neighbors. And in all these efforts we see you -- Australia -- as our partner. "I have to say that this is not my first visit, it is my third visit, and when Sara and I and our children came here, we fell in love with Australia. We fell in love with Australians. We admire your camaraderie, your congeniality, your easy warmth. It reminds us of home," Netanyahu said. "So after braving the distance, which we think are not a barrier to strengthening our friendship, I will borrow a leaf from Douglas MacArthur and dare to say: 'I shall return.' But first it is your return. We await you in Israel, not next year in Jerusalem, this year in Jerusalem, and you will be welcomed with open arms." 'Israel is a miraculous nation' Earlier in the day, Turnbull received a standing ovation after condemning the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Addressing a Sydney business luncheon attended by Netanyahu, Turnbull praised Israel as a "modern miracle" and said Australia "deplored" the attempts by the BDS movement "to delegitimize the Jewish state." Turnbull received a round of applause after denouncing a recent U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, condemning the Judea and Samaria settlement enterprise. A day ahead of Netanyahu's visit, Turnbull penned an opinion piece in The Australian, titled "Israeli PM visit cements a warm, old friendship," in which he reiterated the two nation's longtime friendship. "The key role Australia played in ensuring the security and prosperity of the Jewish people should be a source of pride for us all," he wrote. "Our peoples are bound together first and foremost by the values we share -- a mutual commitment to freedom, democracy and the rule of law. And as a majority Christian nation, we share the rich cultural inheritance of the Bible, its stories and values a foundation and a context for our history, our literature, our imagination." Israel, he praised, "is a miraculous nation. It has flourished despite invasion, conflict and an almost complete lack of natural resources, other than the determination and genius of its people. And yet in a region racked by war, it succeeds as the sole liberal democracy, a world leader in every field of science and technology, its culture of innovation the envy of the world." Turnbull stressed his government "will not support one-sided resolutions criticizing Israel of the kind recently adopted by the U.N. Security Council, and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to delegitimize the Jewish state. At the same time, we recognize that Israel and the Palestinians need to come to a settlement, and we support a directly negotiated two-state solution so that Palestinians will have their own state and the people of Israel can be secure within agreed borders. "We believe that with so many other larger, more destructive and intractable disputes in the Middle East, this is a time when Israeli and Palestinian leaders, supported by the global community, should return to the negotiating table and work toward a solution that upholds the rights of both peoples to live side by side in peace and security," he wrote. During Wednesday's press conference, Turnbull reiterated that Australia "does not support one-sided resolutions which condemn or criticize Israel. We don't. We haven't done in the past, and we won't in the future. [The Israeli-Palestinian conflict] is a complex problem. It needs to be resolved by direct negotiations between the parties, and we certainly encourage that. So that is our position, and it has been consistent. We are a very committed friend of Israel. We are a very consistent friend." Netanyahu thanked Turnbull for the op-ed in The Australian saying he was "delighted to read it." Australia, he said, "Has been absolutely consistent with the friendship that Malcolm Turnbull and his government has shown us, and that Australia has shown us over the years. "Australia has been courageously willing to puncture the U.N. hypocrisy more than once, including this absurd resolution that said that the Western Wall -- the most sacred site for the Jewish people for thousands of years, thousands of years even before the rise of Islam -- that this is occupied Palestinian territory. So the U.N. is capable of many absurdities, and I think it's important that you have straightforward and clear-eyed countries like Australia that often bring it back to earth." Commenting on the regional conflict, Netanyahu said, "I don't want to incorporate two million Palestinians as citizens of Israel. Nor do I want them as subjects of Israel. I want them to have all the freedoms to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten us. That is the essence of what we're suggesting. Let them govern themselves but let them not have the military and physical power to threaten the State of Israel which, as you know is a tiny country. "The core of the conflict between us and the Palestinians is their persistent refusal to recognize a Jewish state in any boundary. Once they recognize a Jewish state, once they recognize the permanence of Israel and the right of Israel to be there as the nation state of the Jewish people, in our ancestral homeland, once that happens, everything else will fall in place," he said.
