NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that Israel’s security requirements would be fully taken into account in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.

In a move that could allow Netanyahu to persuade his governing coalition to back a new freeze on Israeli settlement construction, Clinton and the visiting Israeli leader ended a marathon round of talks in New York with a strong declaration of Washington’s “unshakable commitment to Israel’s security and to peace in the region.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he was “quite serious” about talks with the Palestinians as he met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton amid an impasse which threatens to scuttle the U.S.-backed peace negotiations.

“We’ll be talking about how to resume and continue this process to get a historic agreement with peace and security between us and the Palestinians,” Netanyahu said as he began a lengthy meeting with Clinton in New York.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he was “quite serious” about talks with the Palestinians as he met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton amid an impasse which threatens to scuttle the U.S.-backed peace negotiations.

“We’ll be talking about how to resume and continue this process to get a historic agreement with peace and security between us and the Palestinians,” Netanyahu said as he began a meeting with Clinton in New York.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the West on Monday to convince Iran that it would be willing to take military action to prevent Tehran from producing nuclear weapons.

Addressing a U.S. Jewish conference, Netanyahu said economic sanctions had failed to curb Iran’s nuclear program and only a credible threat of military action could dissuade the “tyrants of Tehran” from gaining an atomic bomb.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday that only a credible military threat can deter Iran from building a nuclear weapon, Israeli political sources said.

In comments signaling growing Israeli impatience with diplomacy, the sources said Netanyahu, beginning a five-day U.S. visit, argued that economic sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to stop its nuclear program.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a U.S. visit on Sunday to meet with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and discuss ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

“It is our fervent desire that the current impasse can be overcome and we see an expeditious return to direct talks with the Palestinians,” Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said on board the prime minister’s flight from Tel Aviv to New Orleans.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Commentators are calling it a defining moment in Israeli politics, a stinging opening shot in a campaign to oust Defence Minister Ehud Barak as leader of the ailing Labour Party.

Sniping at Barak — a former prime minister and an ex-general who has been widely hailed by friend and foe in Israel as a brilliant thinker — a political rival in his own party called him “an idiot” on television late on Wednesday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – For Benjamin Netanyahu, the view from Capitol Hill seemingly couldn’t get much better.

A U.S. midterm election rout by the Republicans, widely seen in Israel as staunch allies, could give the Israeli leader even more incentive to resist pressure from a weakened U.S. President Barack Obama for concessions in Middle East peace negotiations.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – For Benjamin Netanyahu, the view from Capitol Hill seemingly couldn’t get much better.

A U.S. midterm election rout by the Republicans, widely seen in Israel as staunch allies, could give the Israeli leader even more incentive to resist pressure from a weakened President Barack Obama for concessions in Middle East peace negotiations.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the Palestinians on Sunday not to take unilateral steps toward statehood, saying Israel was working closely with Washington on ways to restart peace talks.

“We expect the Palestinians to fulfill their commitment to hold the direct talks. I think that any attempt to circumvent them by going to international bodies is not realistic and it will not advance the real diplomatic process,” he said.