and to try to put an initial band-aid on u.s./russia relations. however, in announcing the move, russia s foreign minister also criticized the u.s. for not offering anything specific to discuss. state department s spokesperson heather nower criticized the decision, saying the sanctions didn t come out of anywhere and if they want to criticize them, they should withdraw from ukraine. jared kushner met with benjamin netanyahu in jerusalem and mahmoud abbas in the west bank. in mirror readouts, the white house says the meetings were productive and they discussed next steps in forging lasting peace. however, all sides agreed it will take time. turning now to iraq and isis has blown up a historic mosque in mosul. according to the iraqi military and u.s. military officials, the terror group has destroyed the al nuri mosque which stood since 1172. it s also where the terrorist
jared kushner returned to israeli today. he met with benjamin netanyahu in jerusalem, and then the palestinian authorities in rama la decidedly different body language with the two sides. both meetings were described by the white house in very similar readouts as productive. the word used to describe every meeting toward middle east peace ever. both sides reaffirming, quote, their commitment to advancing president trump s goal of a genuine and lasting peace according to the white house, kushner will brief the president, secretary of state, national security adviser as to the next steps in achieving peace in the middle east. that s going to do it for our wednesday night broadcast for all of us here atmosphere nbc news headquarters, thank you before being us. good night from new york.
last thing before we go tonight on the eve of president trump s inauguration, he told his son-in-law in public, quote, if you can t produce peace in the middle east,s nobody can. jared kushner returned to israeli today. he met with benjamin netanyahu in jerusalem, and then the palestinian authorities in rama la decidedly different body language with the two sides. both meetings were described by the white house in very similar readouts as productive. the word used to describe every meeting toward middle east peace ever. both sides reaffirming, quote, their commitment to advancing president trump s goal of a genuine and lasting peace according to the white house, kushner will brief the president, secretary of state, national security adviser as to the next steps in achieving peace in the middle east.
at all. drew griffin, cnn, chattanooga. checking some other top stories for you at 21 minutes past the hour, the immigration debate reignites in washington. next hour the father of kate steinle, the young woman killed in san francisco by an undocumented immigrant is expected to testify in this morning s senate judiciary committee. ash carter meets with benjamin netanyahu in jerusalem as kongscongress prepares to debate the iran nuclear deal. netanyahu has called the deal an historic mistake. the u.n. security council has already endorsed the deal. . western texas gets hit with heavy rain causing major flash flooding. storms rolledly eded through cities
and forth between his hotel here in jerusalem, where i m at right now, and ramallah, back and forth, about a 20-minute ride, over and over and over again, being like a human ping-pong ball between the netanyahu government here in israel and the mahmoud abbas government over there on the west bank. and you know, it s just going to take a long time. and i m telling you, i don t think we got a big breakthrough in the interview today on that. but on tonight s program, i think the big story is going to be the strong language the vice president used today in our interview, which we ve just conducted for tonight s program on hardball, where he really does say the united states will will do whatever is necessary, which is pretty strong language, to make sure that ahmadinejad does not have a nuclear weapon. chris, do you feel like the white house, vice president biden, feel like there s some repair work in terms of relations with israel that need to be done and this trip is part of? well,