The Israeli Prime Minister warned that if Iran manages to acquire nuclear weapons, “all achievements will fall apart. (…) It is a great threat to our existence, to peace agreements, to world peace. We are being tested to stop nuclear Iran.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this Monday at a parliamentary hearing that a component of Iran’s nuclear program was bombed in the latest wave of Israeli attacks against Iran.
“It’s no secret to anyone. An element of the nuclear program was targeted in this offensive,” Netanyahu said in his statement, reported by the Israeli daily Yedioth Aharonoth.
“Our attack affected the Shiite axis’ missiles. Iran can respond at any time, even at this precise moment, but this attack brings us closer to the target,” he said.
Netanyahu warned that if Iran manages to acquire nuclear weapons, “all achievements will fall apart.”
“It is a great threat to our existence, to the peace agreements, to world peace. We are being tested to prevent nuclear Iran”, he defended.
Israeli aviation killed four soldiers and one civilian on October 26th, in bombings carried out in response to the Iranian missile attack on October 1st, during which around 180 ballistic missiles were fired.
The Iranian attacks against Israel were described by Tehran as a response to the assassination of several leaders of Tehran-allied armed groups in the region.
The Israeli army confirmed that several of its air bases were hit, although it denied significant damage and refused to give details on the percentage of interceptions.
Netanyahu also reiterated his rejection of any truce agreement in the Gaza Strip, devastated by which, according to the prime minister, would only allow the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to remain in power.
“The only thing Hamas wants is an agreement to end the war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip to remain in power. I am not willing to do that in any way,” Netanyahu said before the Foreign Affairs Committee and Defense of the Israeli parliament (Knesset), according to local media leaks.
According to Hebrew media e the Israeli leader assured that Hamas is trying to take advantage of the “pressure” to which the Government is being subjected to reach a more favorable ceasefire agreement, something that, according to Netanyahu, will not happen.
Ceasefire negotiations have been at a standstill since at least the end of August.
Hamas has demanded since the beginning of the conflict the total end of Israeli aggression, the withdrawal of its troops and the return of displaced people as preconditions for an agreement, something that Netanyahu opposes, among other demands, considering the presence of troops mandatory Israelis on the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Of the 251 kidnapped in Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 97 remain in the enclave, more than half of whom are believed to be dead, according to the latest intelligence estimates.
Additionally, four other hostages have been held for years, including two dead soldiers.
Netanyahu promised he would recover “dozens of hostages in the near future.”
“The strategy is victory and includes the release of the hostages. We will also achieve that. We will rescue dozens more hostages and I hope it will be in the near future”, he stated.
However, Arab-Israeli deputy Aiman Odé accused Netanyahu of being a “serial peace killer”, which led Parliament President Amir Ohana to order his expulsion from the plenary.
Several deputies yelled at him to “go away.”
Also in parliament, Netanyahu criticized the still President of the United States, Joe Biden, for having opposed his main war plans in Gaza and his decisions to attack Iran.
“The United States opposed entering the city of Gaza, the Al Shifa hospital, Khan Yunis and, above all, Rafah. Biden told me that if we entered Rafah, we would be alone”, criticized Netanyahu before the Knesset (Parliament ).
“Biden also told me that he would stop sending important weapons to us. A few days later he appeared [o secretário de Estado Antony] Blinken and repeated the same things and I told them: we will fight with our claws”, he stated.
Netanyahu also stressed that Israel will “conduct military operations” against Hezbollah even in the event of a truce agreement in Lebanon.
“The most important thing is not [o que está no papel] if there is a [acordo] but the fact that we will have the obligation, to guarantee security in the north [de Israel]to systematically carry out operations against possible Hezbollah attacks, even after a ceasefire”, he declared.
“Nothing proves that this agreement will be respected” by Hezbollah, added the Israeli prime minister, mentioning “not just operations in response to attacks [do Hezbollah]but also operations to prevent [seu] strengthening”.
