I covered the Prime Minister's talk for the Post and I heard it This year's Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference, coming only a few days after the paper celebrated its 85th anniversary and only a few hours before US President Donald Trump was due to declare America's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, was the best attended ever, with a standing overflow that lined two walls of the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem hotel. There was an air of anticipation as if something historic was about to happen.
While some people were there only to hear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was a semi-surpise speaker, having decided less than 24 hours earlier to come on board, there was only a small exodus after he finished speaking. The big exodus is usually after lunch, and while it is true that there were several empty seats after lunch, the hall was still more than three-quarters full.
It was difficult to tell whether Netanyahu was on stage as prime minister or as foreign minister, as he spent most of the time talking about Israel's flourishing relations in the world. Of course, he spoke about Iran as he always does, but it came at the tail end of his address.
Netanyahu was truly in fine form, walking up and down stage, interacting with the audience and, for a large part of his address, speaking without notes or prompters while reeling off statistics. Aside from being a great orator, he's a master showman, and he quickly demonstrated the extent to which Israel has been taken out of "the proposed myth of isolation" to diplomatic relations with 159 countries. During 2017, 300 world leaders visited Israel, as well as 1,800 "international influencers." In addition, Netanyahu has made 21 foreign visits on six continents, in some cases being the first sitting prime minister of Israel to visit those countries. Israel also has relations at some level with most of the other countries in the world, with the notable exception of Iran.
There was a large color-coded map to illustrate what Netanyahu was saying, and he invited anyone present who did not see their country coded on the map to come and see him at the Foreign Ministry, quipping that he's also the foreign minister.
■ IT'S UNLIKELY that Netanyahu was inclined to attack the media on the morning following America's historic recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, for which many of his media critics gave him credit. Even Israel Radio Reshet Bet's Aryeh Golan, who is so often slammed by Netanyahu's followers for critical remarks against the prime minister, said "Chapeau to Netanyahu" who he said realized even before Trump's election that he and Trump would hit it off. | 
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