Netanyahu, speaking in English, defends Israel’s campaign and warns Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Sunday at a JNS conference in his first public English-language address since the memorandum of understanding. In the speech, he sent a sharp message to Tehran and, against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s criticism of Israeli operations in Lebanon, also laid out Israel’s view of the campaign, saying, “No country would have done it better.”

Netanyahu said Israel’s “greatest achievement” was not only military. He argued that the fighting created conditions that could eventually allow the Iranian people to determine their own future and break free from a regime that harms its citizens and threatens the world. He said Israel did not limit itself to confronting Iran directly, but also struck its terror arms across the region, killing senior operatives, hitting infrastructure and significantly weakening their capabilities.

He said the most important result may be a change in Israel’s security doctrine. For years, he said, Israelis were told there were limits to what they could do to defend themselves and that they could not operate in the heart of Iran. “We proved otherwise,” he said.

Netanyahu also pledged, “As long as I am prime minister, Iran will never get nuclear weapons. Never.” He said security data showed that for every five terrorists killed, one civilian was harmed during the fighting, which he called unprecedented. He ended by saying that if a terror army sat across the border and fired rockets, missiles and drones at American cities, the United States would not sit still, and that Israel is doing exactly what any state would do to protect its citizens.

He said Israel is not at war with the Lebanese people, but with Hezbollah, which he described as an Iranian-backed terror organization threatening both Israel and Lebanon. He added that once Hezbollah is disarmed and no longer endangers the region, a stable peace could be reached.