Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his government “does not seek war” but will do “everything” to defend itself, amid an escalation in recent days of rhetoric on the possibility of war along border with Lebanon or Gaza.
Netanyahu’s comments came at the weekly cabinet meeting before a briefing given by Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.
“As I made clear to [US] President [Donald] Trump and later to European leaders and to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin — our presence here is the main factor hindering the expansion of radical Islam, led by Iran and ISIL, in the Middle East,” he continued.
“Those factions also threat all other entities in the world.”
“We do not seek war, but we will do everything that’s needed to defend ourselves,” he said.
Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin last week that occupation regime would “prevent” Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria and from turning Lebanon into a base for manufacturing precision missiles for use against Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, the Israeli premier voiced “full confidence” in Eisenkot and the occupation army.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told The Institute for National Security Studies annual conference in Tel Aviv that since Hezbollah and Lebanon were indistinguishable, if Hezbollah fires missiles on the occupation entity, Lebanon will pay the “full price.”
“There won’t be pictures like the ones from the Second Lebanon War showing people on the beach in Beirut while Tel Aviv residents sat in bomb shelters. This won’t happen,” he said.
“If people in Tel Aviv are in bomb shelters, then they will also be in shelters in Beirut. This has to be clear to the other side.”
Regarding the situation at the border with Gaza, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat on Sunday reported that sources close to Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar believe there is a “95% chance” that Tel Aviv will launch another conflict as it carries out several Israeli drills in the southern part of the occupied territories.
In the past 10 years, the Zionist regime launched three wars on the besieged strip, including a 51-day confrontation in 2014.
Source: Israeli media
