Iran is funding the recent wave of terrorism in the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the site of Monday’s deadly terrorist attack on Mount Hebron.
“We are in the middle of a terrorist onslaught that is encouraged, guided and funded by Iran and its proxies,” Netanyahu said.
“A significant portion of this wave of terrorism came from external guidance,” he added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, 30 July 2023. (credit: Abir Sultan/Pool via REUTERS)Impact of Iranian funding
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Iranian funding marks a “significant change,” leading to more weapons reaching Palestinians in the West Bank.
Palestinian terrorists cut off an Israeli car on Route 60 near Beit Hagai Junction and shot at it at least 20 times, murdering Batsheva Nigri, 40, in front of her six-year-old daughter on Monday. Driver Aryeh Gottlieb, 39, was in serious condition from gunshot wounds.
The terrorism is “all guided by Iran, which is looking for any way to harm Israeli citizens,” Gallant said. “We will reach the terrorists and will take additional actions that will ensure the security of the citizens of Israel and make those responsible pay a price.”
Netanyahu said Israel is “acting around the clock…to find the murderers and those who want to murder the citizens of Israel…We will use additional means of attack and defense to make the terrorists pay, along with those who send them, near or far.”
The prime minister also emphasized that he gives his “support to all the commanders and all the soldiers who work day and night…to defend us all and we all must back them.”
The remark came after members of his Likud party and governing coalition, as well as his son Yair Netanyahu, denigrated some of the IDF’s top commanders, including Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Herzy Halevi.
Comments are closed.