Netanyahu said his policy has always been “to stop bad things when they are small. So we meet Iran head-on in Syria, and if we need to, will do whatever we need to do protect ourselves, as you would.”
Israel does not rule out acting militarily inside Iran’s border if it feels that is necessary for its security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
Asked at an annual appearance before the foreign press if Israel would act inside Iran’s borders, Netanyahu said, “Our redline is our survival. We do what is necessary to protect Israel against the Iranian regime that openly calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state.”
Pressed if that means Israel is not ruling out engaging Iran inside Iran, Netanyahu replied: “I’m not ruling out doing anything we need to defend ourselves. For the moment, Israel is the only military in the world that is directly engaging Iranian forces. We are doing that in Syria and pulling them back.”
Iran, Netanyahu said, is “interested in bringing their army 1,500 km. from Iran to our borders, bringing in missiles with a range of 400 to 700 km., which covers all of Israel; and bringing in 80,000 Shia militias with the express purpose of destroying us.”
Netanyahu said his policy has always been “to stop bad things when they are small. So we meet Iran head-on in Syria, and if we need to, will do whatever we need to do protect ourselves, as you would.”
Asked about whether the role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been tarnished in the Mideast as a result of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, and what that means for Israel, Netanyahu said that what happened in Istanbul was “horrific,” and that each country with ties with Saudi Arabia will deal with it in its “own way.”
But, he said, this needs to be balanced by a realization of the importance of the role Saudi Arabia plays in the Middle East, “because if Saudi Arabia is destabilized, the world will be destabilized – not the Middle East, the world would be destabilized. And I think that has to be taken into account.”
I suppose a good example of Netanyahu “stopping bad things when they are small”..would be the Arab infiltration and build-up into Area C right under his nose…not to forget…the situation on the Temple Mount, not only with the steady swelling of the Aksa Mosque area and the Arab claim of complete jurisdiction there…PLUS the many years long destruction of the countless artifacts from Solomon’s Temple with the ceaseless Arab underground excavating….and more….
I’d say that he ignores “bad things” until they’re far too big for him to be able to do anything about them…. The only reason he’s so full of bravado about Iran is because there are American troops in Syria, and he has Trump’s full support…..
His “answer” didn’t answer the question about taking the “battle” to INSIDE Iran, with what it really means.