By TOVA DVORIN, ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS—
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his weekly cabinet meeting Sunday with a warning to Israel’s enemies.
“Our resolute policy against terrorism may be summed up in a single principle: Whoever attacks us or plans to attack us – will bear the consequences,” he stated, responding to last week’s rocket attacks against Israel. Saturday night, a rocket fell in the northwestern area of the Negev; no injuries or damage was reported. On Thursday, Israel suffered from three attacks; a grad rocket was fired at the Eshkol Regional Council, terrorists fired a rocket at Ashkelon, and another rocket was fired at the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council.
The IAF responded Sunday by wounding a senior Gaza terrorist, 29 year-old Abdulla Harti. Harti has been directly involved in the attacks.
Netanyahu also related to Saturday’s escalation in tensions between Iran and the US, after Iran sent a military fleet to US maritime borders.
“The international easing of the sanctions against Iran have not led Iran to moderate its international aggression; the complete opposite has occurred,” the Prime Minister noted.
“The Iranian Foreign Minister recently met with the head of Islamic Jihad, Iran is continuing to supply terrorist organizations with deadly weapons, Iran continues to be complicit in massacres in Syria and to all this may be added the leader of Iran’s crude and sharp attack against the US, alongside sending warships to the Atlantic Ocean.”
“What is happening here is that the international community has reduced the sanctions on Iran and Iran is stepping up its international aggression,” Netanyahu summarized. “This is the real result of the steps up until now.”
Tensions between the US and Iran continue to escalate, despite Iran’s alleged “charm offensive” against Israel and other Western powers. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei verbally attacked the US earlier Saturday, calling it “controlling and meddlesome” and taunting that it is unable to topple the Islamic Republic.
The Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard also issued threats Saturday, warning the US that its drones and missiles could reach American vessels in the Persian Gulf.
Khamenei recently threatened the United States, suggesting that the Americans “exercise self-restraint,” after Secretary of State John Kerry said the military option was still on the table if Iran fails to live up to its part of the agreement that was signed with it in Geneva.
Senior parliamentary officials in Tehran also denounced Kerry’s remarks and threatened a “crushing response” if the United States attacked Iran.