Israel’s Netanyahu: We will eliminate Iran’s threat
Shafaq News/ On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in Israel, during his first visit to the Middle East as top diplomat.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Netanyahu said, “We have a common strategy, and we can't always share the details of this strategy with the public, including when the gates of hell will be opened, as they surely will if all our hostages are not released until the last one.” The Israeli PM also endorsed the US president’s plan for Gaza, emphasizing his shared vision with Trump for the strip’s future.
Israel had delivered a significant blow to Iran since the onset of the Gaza war, he stated, expressing confidence that with the backing of US President Donald Trump, he has no doubt they “can and will finish the job".
On Syria, Netanyahu warned, “Israel will act to prevent any threat from emerging near our border in southwest Syria. If any force in Syria today believes that Israel will permit other hostile forces to use Syria as a base of operations against us, they are gravely mistaken.”
For his part, Rubio acknowledged that Trump's Gaza proposal “may have shocked and surprised” many but defended it as a bold and visionary approach, not a repetition of past failed ideas. “What cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place. Hamas cannot continue as a military or a government force... they must be eliminated... it must be eradicated,” he added.
He further emphasized that Trump's top priority is securing the release of hostages still held in Gaza since Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Following his visit to Israel, the US Secretary of State will travel to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to meet senior officials for talks regarding regional cooperation, stability and peace.
