War. This is 20 minutes. Well tart with opening remarks from mr. Lieberman then secretary mattis. Thank you. Thank you. Secretary of defense, general james mattis, i would like to express my appreciation for your friendship for your sincerity for your support and for your understanding of complexity of all challenges that we are facing here in israel. No doubt the main problem not only for us but for entire world, its an excess of evil from north korea to tehran to damascus and hezbollah. And no doubt the same, the main link in this chain, it iran. Iranians, they are trying to undermine stability in all middle east, in yemen in iraq syria, lebanon, and of course the activity against israel. We were sharing the same views and i hope that with your support we will be able toover come all these threats and of course to bring peace and stability to this part of the region. We appreciate your success your operations against terror, in mosul in its a great step forward to overcome the terror all around the world. On behalf of myself and the people of israel, i would like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to the American Administration let by the president , donald trump, were happy to see the first member of cabinet visit israel, and of course we hope to see during this year President Donald Trump in jerusalem also. Thank you. Thank you, minister liberman, my friend. And good morning, everyone. Im honored to return to israel again to show my respect for this country and for the israeli people. I am keenly aware that we stand together this morning, just a week before the holocaust remembrance day, and we share a common determination to never allow such horrific events to recur. As you noted, this is my first visit to israel as secretary of defense, and im honored as well to be the first cabinet official from the new administration to visit our friends here. This trip follows a number of senior level engagement between the Political Leadership of our two countries including president trumps meeting with President National an netanyahu. Our cooperation is nested firmly within our diplomatics relationship and on that score im pleased that the i just came from saudi arabia and egypt, two other important partners in this region. My discussion the those countries reenforced the need for vigilance and for the strongest possible cooperation in the International Community to defeat threats to all of our countries. Minister lieberman and i just finished our third meeting since i became the secretary of defense in january. Our close and regular dialogue is a reflection of the enduring bond between our countries militaries. During this meeting we had another indepth conversation, sharing a keene appreciation for the security situation facing israel and our friend in the region. And further refining the practical steps we are taking together to defend our shared security interests. The depth of our relationship was clear, following the u. S. Strike in syria, when israel immediately expressed its strong support for our action, to enforce the long Standing International prohibition against the use of chemical weapons. Looking across the region, we in the United States recognize isis represents a clear and present danger, not only to syria and iraq but to israel and other countries, to europe, and ultimately to the u. S. Homeland. The Coalition Campaign against isis and syria and iraq, as you noted, minister, it is on track, and we have accelerated and intensify that campaign to surround and isolate the enemy so we methodically remove its physical caliphate. In addition to our campaign to defeat isis, we also recognize the need to confront the destablizing activities of iran. Iran continues to threaten israel and its neighbors with Ballistic Missiles through its maritime and cyber activities, and through proxies and surrogates, including lebanese hezbollah, a terrorist organization helping to keep assad in power in syria. In the face of these threats the United States maintains absolute and unwavering commitment to israels security and to its qualitative military end over iran or other threats. The foundation of our longterm commitment is the significant 10year Security Assistance package we signed recently with israel which will enable israel to continue to acquire the most advanced u. S. Military technology. This compliments our expanding cooperation on intelligence sharing, counterterrorism and counterproliferation across the region. This specifically includes our continuing cooperation to defend against the Ballistic Missile threat, and in that regard i congratulate israel on the highly successful david sling and arrow three Ballistic Missile defense systems, both of which achieved initial operating capability. With minister liberman, i look forward to act accelerating progress on the other elements of our defense cooperation, and in closing our alliance with with with israel is a corner stone of a larger Regional Security architecture, which includes cooperation with egypt, jordan the kingdom of saudi arabia and our gulf partners. In order to deter and defeat threats and ultimately to temper our adversaries designs. I welcome your questions. Thank you. First question. General mattis, in 2013 you said you think the Current Situation is unsustainable and you warned that the settlements could heed israel to becoming an apartheid state. Do you still stand by this position . And mr. Liberman, weve been hearing contradicting statements in reason days about how much iran is complying or not with the iran deal. What is israels position, does israel want the u. S. To cancel the iran deal . To answer your question, i believe in israels security. Whatever it takes to keep israel secure is where we will always stand as americans. In that regard, how israel achieves its level of sustainable security is absolutely critical, and that includes all the peoples here inside the borders of israel, or inside the middle east. All these people are going to have to work together, were going to have to resolve it and its got to be down in a way that looks out for the rights of all those people. Thank you. First of all, we are not in a position to give advice to American Administration. But of course were happy to see a new policy review, a new approach. First of all regarding the terrorist activity, not hezbollah and not hamas, not able to exist with iranian support. Iranian terrorists, they are trying to, as i mentioned, to undermine the stability even in yemen and even in iraq. Their efforts to create more proxies and more i think its a big concern for both states. And i think that iran its clear is a big sponsor in the world of terror and are calling this as their position, its crucial to place more sanctions on the Iranian Regime. Next question will be from the associated press. Thank you. The question mr. Minister, can you confirm that israel estimates that the syrians retain between one and three tons of chemical weapons . And can you provide any evidence that thats the case . And a question for secretary mattis what would be the implications for this large quantity of chemical weapons still being in syria . And can you say whether the remaining Syrian Air Forces has moved its aircraft, its combat aircraft to the russian base and what that might imply for future u. S. Options to act against another example of syrian use of chemical weapons . Thank you. First of all, i hope that you do not expect that i will share with you our intelligence information. But i clarified my position, i think, sometime that we have 100 information that the assad regime used chemical weapons against rebels, and i think it was very, very clear position, and we strongly support the last u. S. Action in syria. It was very, very strong and new message to all this region. The bottom line is, there can be no doubt in the International Communitys mind that syria has retained chemical weapons in violation of its agreement. And its statement that it had removed them all. Theres no longer any doubt. The amount of it, i dont want to get into right now. We dont reveal some of that detail because we dont want to reveal how were finding out. But bottom line is, i can say authoritatively, they have retained some. Its a violation of the United NationsSecurity Council resolutions and its going to have to be taken up diplomatically and they would be ill advised to try to use any again, we made that very clear with our strike. So ill just leave it at that. They have dispersed their aircraft, no doubt they have dispersed their aircraft in recent days. Next question. Mr. Defense secretary, what is your opinion on the Iranian Nuclear review and agreement to which you have objected in the past, and will the u. S. Insert changes that israel is demanding . And another question, if your opinion will the transfer of the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem lead to a jerusalem resulting deescalations and is that why the process has been frozen . And defense minister liberman, does Israel Attack isis targets in the sign sinai, and if so, are they done in coordination with the egyptians. On the iran nuclear agreement, as our secretary of state said about three days ago iran appears to the degree we can determine it and were pretty confident, they appear to be living up to their part of the agreement. It is an agreement that is in force, the United States has signed it in the previous administration, it continues to be in force. That in no with which mitigates against or excuses the other activities of iran in the region, to include its support of the war in yemen that grinds on thanks to their support, to the iranian support or what theyre doing in syria to keep assad in power and continue the mayhem and the chaos and the murder thats going on there and the refugees. So those are separate issues. But the agreement on Nuclear Issues still stands, and thats all i can say about it. On the move of the embassy, that is something youd have to take up with the secretary of state, its just not under my purview i cant speak to that. I think that were real happy to see that the Egyptian Military forces more active and more efficient in their fight against isis in sinai. And of course we thought the last operation was very successful. Last question from reuters. Mr. Secretary, north korea has once again may some provocative statements about taking strikes against the u. S. This comes after Vice President pence has made statements youve made statements as well. At what point is there a Tipping Point where words just wont do and it you have to take some sort of action beyond words . And the second question is, a how significant is her release to resetting egyptianamerican relations . And mr. Minister, the Trump Administration has made some very strong statements against iran, but their actions seem to be very much in line with what the Obama Administration did, for example the recent acknowledging that theyre in line with the what do you want to see from the Trump Administration that would differentiate them from the Obama Administration in regards to iran . As far as north koreas latest words, i think weve all come to hear their words repeatedly. Their word is not proven honest. Its been provocative, they have not lived up to any statements theyve made in the past years, decades actually, about stopping their Ballistic Missile and their nuclear programs. So i would just take their words at the same value weve always given them as weve learned not to trust them. As far as the release of the american citizen, she was found innocent in the egyptian courts and appropriately she has returned home. We were happy to hear she was found innocent, and the court system recognized that she was not guilty of what she had been charged with. So it all turned out fine from our perspective that she has now returned home with her family. The new Administration Just now accomplished the first 100 days, and what weve seen, is the new administration in the midst of new policy review, will see a completely new approach to north korea, syria and also iran. I think that we saw in the last days a very clear and strong message regarding the Iranian Regime and we have enough patience to wait for concrete steps. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. This week, historian David Mccullough on his book, the american spirit, mo we and what we stand for, a selection of speeches going back to 198 it. The 20th century senator who has been written about the most is joe mccarthy, there are a dozen boobs about mccarthy. Yet there is no biography of the senator who had the back bone to stand up to him first. Margaret j. Smith. Do you remember how you went about preparing for that speech . Oh, did i go about it. Hard as i ever worked on anything ive ever delivered from a podium. David mccullough on his book, the american spirit, a selection of his speeches going back to 1989. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on q and a. Check out our cspan classroom website at cspan. Org classroom, it full of free Teaching Resources for cspan classroom members. The improved layout gives teachers easy access to resources for the classroom including short current i vents videos that highlight important events in washington d. C. , constitution clips that bring the constitution to life, social studies lesson plans, as well as on this day in history resources. Our search functional laws cspan Classroom Teachers to search and fitter by date person key word, topic, and grade level. Our bell ringers video clips are teacher favorites, theyre short videos paired with vocabulary and discussion questions that make the federal government and politics more accessible to your students. I love the bell ringers. A lot of time i dont use them as actual bell ringers, but ill use them in conjunction with an activity that were doing that day as more of a wrapup. The new website is fabulous, my students use it regularly, it so easy that they are right now working on clipping videos and making questions that they can design and turn to their own bell ringers. Probably my favorite as respect is the deliberations stage, its perfectly set up ready to go classroom discussion on a vary variety of topics that are relevant today. Its free and easy to register at cspan. Org classroom. If you register now, you can request our free classroom size american president s timeline poster a graphic display of the biographies of all 45 president s. On wednesday the Supreme Court her argument in a case involving the separation of church and state. Trinity Lutheran Church in missouri is suing the state after it was denied funding for a program that rebills playgrounds. 38 other states have similar laws. This is the first oral argument with Justice Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. Its an hour