Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated incoming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on his inauguration on Wednesday.
Netanyahu referred to his "warm friendship going back many decades" with the new president.
"I look forward to working with you to further strengthen the US-Israel alliance, to continue expanding peace between Israel and the Arab world and to confront common challenges, chief among them the threat posed by Iran," Netanyahu said.
The prime minister wished Biden "the greatest success."
"God bless the United States of America. God bless Israel," he added.
Netanyahu also thanked former president Donald Trump "for all the great things you have done for Israel, especially your historic recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and bringing four peace agreements between Israel and the Arab world."
President Reuven Rivlin sent a congratulations letter to Biden, wishing him success.
“Mr. President, sometimes even the obvious has to be said,” Rivlin wrote. “The United States of America has no greater friend than the State of Israel and the American people have no greater friend than the Israeli people. Our relationship crosses partisan politics, is rooted in shared values of democracy and freedom, and has the overwhelming support of both our peoples. We have no doubt that under your presidency the United States remains committed to the security and prosperity of Israel.”
Rivlin said he looks forward to working with Biden to “build further bridges” in the Middle East, including with the Palestinians, and mentioned the threats of Iranian aggression, global terrorism and rising antisemitism, which the US and Israel must face together.
Israel’s president concluded his letter by inviting Biden to visit Jerusalem again.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid tweeted congratulations to Biden and Harris, saying: “We look forward to working with you over the coming years to strengthen the special relationship between our two countries and advance our shared values.”
New Hope Party leader Gideon Sa’ar released a video in English in which he says to Biden: “You carry with you the hopes and prayers of the free world, among them the hopes and prayers of the people of Israel.
“All through your career you have championed the unbreakable bond between the US and Israel,” Sa’ar added. “We share the values of freedom and democracy, and today more than ever we must work together to promote stability and prosperity. I look forward to working with you to strengthen the US=-Israel alliance and bipartisan support for Israel.”
Sa’ar and Lapid hired American strategists who supported Biden, ahead of the Knesset election in March.
Defense Ministe Benny Gantz said he looks forward to working with the Biden administration to face the challenges the US and Israel share, such as "containing Iranian regional aggression and nuclear aspirations, fighting terror organizations and destabilizing forces, expanding normalization, and, finding a resolution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict."
Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel announced in a video that Israel is joining the Biden administration’s goal to have the US move to 100% renewable energy by 2035.
Standing with Israeli-American solar energy advocate and entrepreneur Yossi Abramowitz at a solar field in the Negev, which Gamliel said is “the first region in the world to be powered 100% by the sun during the day,” the minister said she looks forward to working with the Biden administration to bring the US-Israel relationship to “new heights and win the climate battle for all of humanity.”
Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz wrote a letter to Biden and Harris, in which he called to turn away from Trump's approach to Israel-Palestinian peace and expressed hope that their inauguration "may reignite a serious peace process based on a two-state solution."
Horowitz also posited that "the most effective way to stop Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is by outlining a new nuclear deal," not a return to the 2015 Iran deal. At the same time, Horowitz said the US withdrawal from that deal was dangerous.