Education Minister and Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett sat down with Arutz Sheva Monday during the 15th annual Jerusalem Conference, being held at the International Convention Center near Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station.

While discussing the clashes over the weekend between Israeli forces and Syrian and Iranian forces, Bennett emphasized that the Assad regime and Hezbollah terrorist organization are merely proxies for Tehran.

The minister added that to confront Iran, Israel must engage in a broad campaign to challenge the Tehran government, and not merely limit itself to military confrontations with Iran’s client states and organizations.

“We have an octopus sitting in Tehran and sending its arms to surround us. It would be a mistake to only look at the arms as the enemy. The enemy is the head of the octopus, and we have to wage a total campaign – diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and other mechanisms – against Iran because Iran is the source of all the problems of the Middle East.”

Bennett also discussed the government’s decision to legalize the town of Havat Gilad in Samaria, making it the second time Israel has granted recognition to a new community in Judea and Samaria, following a de facto freeze on the establishment of full-fledged towns imposed in 1992.

“We have to build. We’re not building enough. That’s because the [Jewish Home] has only eight seats in the Knesset. When we have 20 seats, we’ll be able to bring into effect everything we believe in. But we are building more than before. There’s no freeze, no more giving away parts of Israel. I think we’re very effective here, but the guy who runs the government is Netanyahu.”