Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces will remain in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary to protect Israeli citizens from Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists.
“The reason is perfectly understood; no country would be asked to do otherwise,” Netanyahu told the JNS International Policy Summit at Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria.
Netanyahu compared Israel’s position to how the United States would respond if terrorists were attacking American communities from across the border. “Would it say, ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do; let’s hold our fire?’ Is that what America would say? No. You know damn well what America would do. It would cross the border, create a security zone, kill the terrorists, and protect its people until the threat is removed,” he said. “That’s exactly what we are doing.”
The Israeli leader said no country would do more than Israel to limit civilian casualties while fighting terrorists embedded among civilians. He said the ratio of terrorists to noncombatants killed in Lebanon has been as low as 5 to 1, despite Hezbollah’s use of human shields. “Unheard of, because no army goes to such lengths as the Israeli army, who target terrorists and minimizes civilian casualties. We should be commended for it,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also touted Israel’s broader campaign against Iran and its terror proxies, saying joint US-Israeli operations had severely damaged Tehran’s nuclear, military, and economic capabilities. “Together with our American friends, the American air force, the American military, we carried out the largest airstrike in our history,” Netanyahu said.
He argued that Israel and the United States prevented Iran from obtaining and using nuclear weapons. “Had we not acted in ‘Operation Rising Lion’ and in ‘Operation Roaring Lion,’ Iran would have had atomic bombs, and ... they would have used them,” he said. “That’s what we prevented.”
Netanyahu said Israel had eliminated top Iranian nuclear scientists and devastated Tehran’s military infrastructure, adding that the damage to the regime could ultimately help bring about its collapse.
“They may not recover, because once you deal these blows and once the rift between the regime and the people is so deep, you cannot tell when such a regime will fall,” he said.
“I think we created the conditions for its future fall; that is what will be the real triumph, when the Iranian people take their own destiny in their hands, and they knock out this brutal regime that is terrorizing them and terrorizing the rest of the world.”
The prime minister said Israel had also dismantled much of Hezbollah’s arsenal, destroyed over 90 percent of the rockets and missiles the terror group had stockpiled against Israel, and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
He also pointed to Israel’s elimination of top Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif, while saying Israel had brought home “every single hostage.”
Netanyahu said Israel’s greatest achievement was breaking “the barrier of fear” that had previously stopped leaders from striking directly inside Iran.
“We changed Israel’s security doctrine. We initiate. We attack. We surprise. And we attack those enemies that seek our destruction, that seek to kill us—we attack them before they have a chance to do so,” he said.
Addressing reported tensions with Washington, Netanyahu said he and President Donald Trump respect one another’s national interests. “In the United States, they say that President Trump does everything I ask him to do, and in Israel, they say that I do everything that he wants me to do. Well, neither is true,” Netanyahu said. “We’re leaders of independent and proud countries. We stand for our interests; I stand for the interests of Israel, and for its security. Often we see eye to eye; sometimes we don’t.”
Netanyahu closed by invoking the 1976 Entebbe Raid, in which Israeli commandos rescued hostages in Uganda. His brother, Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed during the mission. “Entebbe showed that a free people, if they mobilize their courage and muster their strength and their will, they could overcome the worst tyrannies,” Netanyahu said.
“The reason is perfectly understood; no country would be asked to do otherwise,” Netanyahu told the JNS International Policy Summit at Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria.
Netanyahu compared Israel’s position to how the United States would respond if terrorists were attacking American communities from across the border. “Would it say, ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do; let’s hold our fire?’ Is that what America would say? No. You know damn well what America would do. It would cross the border, create a security zone, kill the terrorists, and protect its people until the threat is removed,” he said. “That’s exactly what we are doing.”
The Israeli leader said no country would do more than Israel to limit civilian casualties while fighting terrorists embedded among civilians. He said the ratio of terrorists to noncombatants killed in Lebanon has been as low as 5 to 1, despite Hezbollah’s use of human shields. “Unheard of, because no army goes to such lengths as the Israeli army, who target terrorists and minimizes civilian casualties. We should be commended for it,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also touted Israel’s broader campaign against Iran and its terror proxies, saying joint US-Israeli operations had severely damaged Tehran’s nuclear, military, and economic capabilities. “Together with our American friends, the American air force, the American military, we carried out the largest airstrike in our history,” Netanyahu said.
He argued that Israel and the United States prevented Iran from obtaining and using nuclear weapons. “Had we not acted in ‘Operation Rising Lion’ and in ‘Operation Roaring Lion,’ Iran would have had atomic bombs, and ... they would have used them,” he said. “That’s what we prevented.”
Netanyahu said Israel had eliminated top Iranian nuclear scientists and devastated Tehran’s military infrastructure, adding that the damage to the regime could ultimately help bring about its collapse.
“They may not recover, because once you deal these blows and once the rift between the regime and the people is so deep, you cannot tell when such a regime will fall,” he said.
“I think we created the conditions for its future fall; that is what will be the real triumph, when the Iranian people take their own destiny in their hands, and they knock out this brutal regime that is terrorizing them and terrorizing the rest of the world.”
The prime minister said Israel had also dismantled much of Hezbollah’s arsenal, destroyed over 90 percent of the rockets and missiles the terror group had stockpiled against Israel, and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
He also pointed to Israel’s elimination of top Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif, while saying Israel had brought home “every single hostage.”
Netanyahu said Israel’s greatest achievement was breaking “the barrier of fear” that had previously stopped leaders from striking directly inside Iran.
“We changed Israel’s security doctrine. We initiate. We attack. We surprise. And we attack those enemies that seek our destruction, that seek to kill us—we attack them before they have a chance to do so,” he said.
Addressing reported tensions with Washington, Netanyahu said he and President Donald Trump respect one another’s national interests. “In the United States, they say that President Trump does everything I ask him to do, and in Israel, they say that I do everything that he wants me to do. Well, neither is true,” Netanyahu said. “We’re leaders of independent and proud countries. We stand for our interests; I stand for the interests of Israel, and for its security. Often we see eye to eye; sometimes we don’t.”
Netanyahu closed by invoking the 1976 Entebbe Raid, in which Israeli commandos rescued hostages in Uganda. His brother, Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed during the mission. “Entebbe showed that a free people, if they mobilize their courage and muster their strength and their will, they could overcome the worst tyrannies,” Netanyahu said.
