PM says Israel’s success against Iran paves way for broadening regional peace, urges swift action alongside efforts to defeat Hamas and free hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message on Thursday that Israel obtained a significant victory over Iran and stressed that there is now a strategic opportunity to advance more peace agreements.
In his remarks, Netanyahu quoted the Psalm: “The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.”
He added: “We fought with strength against Iran and achieved a great victory. This victory opens the door to a dramatic expansion of the peace agreements. We are working on this vigorously.”
Netanyahu noted that “alongside the release of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas, there is a window of opportunity here that must not be missed. Not a single day should be wasted.”
Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich responded to Netanyahu: “Expanding the Abraham Accords is a wonderful thing. Peace treaties from a position of strength, with security potential and economic development for the entire region.
“But if it’s just shiny packaging for an existential threat in the form of dividing the land of Israel, handing over territory to the enemy, and establishing a Palestinian terror state twenty times the size of Gaza in an area that geographically and topographically dominates most of the land of Israel — then no, thank you.”
He added: “We’ve already seen this horror movie, where they sold us bombastic illusions wrapped in lofty words about a ‘New Middle East’ and international standing in the family of nations — and it blew up in our buses, in city centers, with thousands of dead and wounded, and with the most terrible massacre we’ve suffered since the Holocaust.
“After October 7th, there aren’t many sane people in Israel who would support that. Our right to this land is not for sale. Period. Mr. Prime Minister, let it be clear — you have no mandate. Not even a hint of one, not even lip service. If there are countries that want peace in exchange for peace, ahlan wa sahlan (welcome). If they want a Palestinian state — forget it. It’s not going to happen.”
