Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who also serves as chairman of the Jewish Home party and as a member of the security cabinet, spoke on Monday about the security and national situation in Israel, as well as about Israel's attack on a Syrian weapons target.
"The Israeli government's policy is very consistent," Bennett said. We will work to prevent Hezbollah from gaining strength in Lebanon. On our northern border, there is an attempt to threaten Israel strategically and Hezbollah currently has over 100,000 rockets and is working to improve their aim."
"We are doing all we can to prevent Hezbollah from succeeding, and we will continue to do so.
"In the past, our policy was to fight with Hezbollah, but not to touch sovereign Lebanon. That's what we did in the Second Lebanon War, when I commanded a group of soldiers. Our orders were to harm Hezbollah and only Hezbollah, and to cause no harm to any Lebanese government buildings.
"But I no longer accept this differentiation.
"The new policy must be that Lebanon is Hezbollah and Hezbollah is Lebanon. I have been pushing for this policy change for over two years, for the simple reason that all of Hezbollah's infrastructure is intertwined with that of Lebanon.
"Hezbollah is part of the government, they chose the president, and all of Lebanon's leaders say that Hezbollah is part of their national security. We can't keep looking for a needle in the haystack of Lebanon. Every Lebanese citizen needs to know that if rockets are fired on us from Lebanon, we will see it as the Lebanese government's declaration of war, and we will act accordingly." READ MORE
