Prime Minister and Defense Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke this morning at the memorial service for the soldiers killed in the Yom Kippur War, at the Herzl Memorial Hall in Jerusalem, and addressed the Iranian security challenge to the State of Israel.
"The current focus of aggression in the Middle East is the Iranian regime in Tehran. Iran is striving to tighten its grip on Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and the Gaza Strip. It is constantly arming its metastases with dangerous weapons and is attacking freedom of navigation in international shipping routes. It downed a big U.S. UAV, it launched a crude and unprecedented attack on Saudi Arabia's oil fields, it repeatedly exceeds its own arrogance," Netanyahu said.
He continued: "Iran threatens to wipe us off the map. It says explicitly: 'Israel will disappear.' Time and time again, it tries to attack us, so we must stand ready to protect ourselves from the danger.
"We don't aspire to be 'a people who dwells alone,' but that's how we were forced to stand at the beginning of the Yom Kippur War - that only nearing the end of which did American aid arrive. As in 1973, we still greatly appreciate U.S. support, which has increased greatly in recent years, as well as the tremendous economic pressure the U.S. is exerting on Iran,' Netanyahu noted.
"However, we always remember and apply the basic rule that guides us: Israel will defend itself, on its own, in the face of every threat. The IDF is ready to preempt every threat, employing defense and attack, with its overwhelming power. Weapon power, and power of spirit. This is the great spirit that the Yom Kippur War generation has bestowed upon us," the Prime Minister emphasized.
