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Dec. 13 –19, 2024 • Vayishlach • 12 Kislev 5785 • Vol 23, No 43
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‘The absolute victory we were mocked over is becoming reality.’
Bibi: We are changing the face of Middle East Here are translated remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s, made in Hebrew, as he opened a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday. esterday, the Assad regime in Syria, the main link in Iran’s axis of evil, crumbled after 54 years. Iran had invested billions in Syria, and it is all gone. This was a brutal dictatorship that trampled its citizens and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of them. And regarding us, it fostered hostility and hatred, attacked us in the Yom Kippur War, served as a forward position for Iranian terrorism and constituted a pipeline for the transfer of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah. I would like to say to the generations of our fighters who laid down their lives to liberate and defend the Golan Heights, and I say to the generations of residents who put down roots on the Golan Heights: Today, we all understand the great importance our presence there — on the Golan Heights, and not at the base of the Golan Heights. Our control on the Golan Heights ensures our security, it ensures our sovereignty. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my friend, President-elect Donald Trump, for acceding to my request to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in 2019. The importance of this historic recognition has been underscored today. The Golan Heights will be an inseparable part of the State of Israel forever. he collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. I would like to make it clear: Additional challenges yet await us in the campaign and we are still active. Since the horrifying terrorist assault of Oct. 7, we have been working methodically, prudently and in an orderly manner to dismantle the axis of evil. This did not happen on its own, nor was it happenstance. On Oct. 9, two days after the outbreak of the war, I told the local council heads in the south: “We will change the face of the Middle East.” My first decision, and that of the Security
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himself was the axis of the axis. Strike him, and the axis will have been struck a mortal blow. Nasrallah not only fanned the flames of aggression against us, he was the connecting link between Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. Therefore, the elimination of Nasrallah was a turning point in the crumbling of the axis. Nasrallah is no longer with us, nor is the axis what it used to be. We are dismantling it stage by stage. Iran cleared a path of terrorism from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea: From Iran to Iraq, from Iraq to Syria and from Syria to Lebanon. In the south, it armed Hamas and in the more distant south — the Houthis, whom we have also struck hard. The axis has not yet disappeared, but as I promised, we are changing the face of the Middle East. The State of Israel is establishing itself as a focus of strength in our region, the likes of which have not been seen for decades. Whoever cooperates with us, gains greatly. Whoever attacks us, loses greatly. e want to see a different Syria, which will benefit both us and the residents of Syria. We proved this when we built field hospitals to care for thousands of wounded Syrians. I have said that there are hundreds of Syrian children who were born in Israel. Even today our hand is extended to those who want to live in peace with us, and we will cut off the hand of those who try to harm us. With Defense Minister Israel Katz, and with the backing of all the members of the Security Cabinet, I ordered the [Israel Defense Forces] to seize the buffer zone between us and Syria, as well as the controlling positions close to it. This includes the summit of Mt. Hermon, what is called the Syrian Mt. Hermon, which I remember very well from the time of my service in the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit. I was active on Mt. Hermon with my Shaldag soldiers, in bone-chilling cold. Both of my brothers, Ido and Yoni of blessed memory, were active there. Yesterday I visited the Golan Heights. I evaluated the characteristics of the sector. I See Changing the face on page 8
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at his office in Jerusalem on Monday. Yonatan Sindel, Flash90
Cabinet, was to focus, first of all, on the south, and afterwards on the north: To eliminate Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza, and block the danger of a Hezbollah invasion in the north. In the Gaza Strip — we cut off Iran’s arm, destroyed Hamas’s brigades, eliminated the organization’s leadership and smashed its terrorism infrastructure both above and below ground. We have returned 155 hostages, including 117 who are alive. Now we are working to demolish Hamas’s remaining military capabilities and all of its governing capabilities, and bring back the
hostages, and I emphasize, down to the last of them. In Lebanon, we used a daring stratagem that struck a severe blow to Hezbollah: We eliminated the organization’s leadership, destroyed its terrorist strongholds close to the border — and I say terrorist strongholds which were built over decades — and destroyed a considerable part of its arsenal of Hezbollah’s missiles and rockets. And yet, before the elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, pursuant to updated intelligence material that reached me, we reached a clear conclusion: Nasrallah
‘Our hand is extended to those who want to live in peace with us, and we will cut off the hand of those who try to harm us.’