The meeting was arranged by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft -- who's leading a team of NFL legends including Joe Montana, Jim Brown and Jerome Bettis on a goodwill trip to Israel.

Part of the trip was a meeting with Netanyahu -- a meeting that included handshakes, autograph exchanges and even a quick game of catch.

But the key part of the meeting was when Bibi addressed the group and gave his take on the Israeli peace policy ... tailored to a football audience.

"You seek peace but you've got to be strong. If you're not strong you'll never get peace and if you're not strong you'll be more in turmoil and the worst thing is you'll lose."

"I'm sure that when you prepare for your games, you don't say, 'Well, do I need to be strong, fast, nimble? Is that a question? Your game is no different from ours."

"The only difference is if we lose the consequences are immutable. And we've had enough of that in our history. So we won't let that happen again."