Press Releases

Courtesy Call on Prime Minister Netanyahu of the State of Israel by Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobuo Kishi

July 24, 2014
Japanese

On July 24, Mr. Nobuo Kishi, Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, and exchanged opinions on the recent situation in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli side gave explanations on the current situation in the Gaza Strip and stance of the Israeli government, and in response thereto Mr. Kishi gave an explanation on the stance of the Government of Japan. An overview of the meeting is as follows:

1. Mr. Kishi conveyed the stance of the Japanese government that it is deeply concerned about the situation where casualties from both parties including innocent civilians have been signficantly increasing since the launch of an Israeli ground operation, and therefore urged all the parties concerned to refrain from the use of excessive force and to achieve an early ceasefire.
Mr. Kishi also conveyed that the Japanese government appreciated Israel’s decision to accept a ceasefire proposal and while it was very regrettable that Hamas did not accept it, the Government of Japan had been consistently condemning the continuous rocket attacks by Hamas. Then, Mr. Kishi requested the Israeli side to make a courageous decision to achieve a ceasefire from an overall perspective.
Moreover, Mr. Kishi also conveyed to the Israeli side that the Japanese government supported the efforts by the international community to mediate between the parties, and prior to the meeting, he had requested President Al Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Minister of Foreign Affairs Judeh of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to make further efforts for the ceasefire. In addition, Mr. Kishi conveyed to Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Government of Japan would make efforts for a lasting ceasefire in coordination with the international community and was discussing the provision of assistance to the citizens of the Gaza Strip depending on their needs in order to proactively contribute to stabilization of the Gaza Strip.

2. Prime Minister Netanyahu gave explanations on the stance of Israel concerning the current situation such as the request for an immediate stop of the rocket attacks by Hamas, and mentioned the necessity for the international community to work for demilitarization and development of the Gaza Strip.


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(* This is a provisional translation. The above date denotes the date of the issue of the original press release in Japanese.)
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