JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday thatIsrael would be prepared to attack inside Iran if the Jewish state ssurvival was at stake.
“Our red line is our survival,” Netanyahu said at a meeting with foreignmedia where he was asked what his “red line” was for attacking Iranianterritory, rather than its proxies in Syria and Lebanon.
“We do what is necessary to protect the state of Israel against the Iranianregime that openly calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state.”
“I m not ruling out doing anything that we need to do to defend ourselves,”added Netanyahu, who sees Iran as the most dangerous threat to Israel.
He said that Israel is the only country whose military is “directlyengaging Iranian forces” with air strikes in neighbouring Syria, where Iransupports the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.
Netanyahu said Wednesday that Iran s aggressive regional behaviour, incontrast to Israel s fight against radical Islamic militants and itsadvanced technology, had brought once-hostile Arab states closer to theJewish state.
“The Arab countries understand exactly that Israel is not their enemy, buttheir indispensable partner” against extremists, he said, speaking of “newrelationship between Israel and the Arab world”.
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Israel has diplomatic relations with only two Arab countries — Egypt andJordan — but has recently been pushing to broaden regional ties.
A rapprochement with Saudi Arabia in particular, a regional heavyweight andrival of Iran, would be a considerable breakthrough for Israel.
Netanyahu said that a balanced diplomatic response was needed to the murderof Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his country s consulate in Istanbulon October 2, which sparked a global outcry.
While he described the crime as “horrific, nothing short of that,” he saidthat every country, especially those with formal relations with SaudiArabia, must decide how to react.
“It s balanced by the importance of Saudi Arabia and the role it plays inthe Middle East, because if Saudi Arabia were to be destabilised the worldwould be destabilised… and I think that has to be taken into account,there s a balance,” he said. – APP/AFP
