In a nationally-televised address to local government officials in Tel Aviv, the prime minister said there would be no peace until Hizbullah returned the IDF soldiers kidnapped by the terrorists on July 12th and its rocket attacks on Israel were halted.
“We will stop the war when the threat is removed… our captured soldiers return home safely and you are able to live in safety and security,” he told the mayors of Israel’s besieged northern communities.
Olmert said bluntly that military operations would not end until Hizbullah had been pushed back from the northern border and its ability to harm Israel’s citizens neutralized.
“We will operate in the air, on land and sea to eradicate the terror threat from Lebanon,” he said, but warned that Israel faced “no small number of days of fighting,” and that the country “should be ready for pain, tears and blood. Missiles will still land in Israel in the coming days,” he said.
In remarks apparently aimed at the international community, Olmert said Israel had no longer been able to hold off dealing with the threat on its northern border. “We could not let the terror organization on our border get stronger, let them acquire more missiles. If we had held off, the day would have soon arrived when they would have caused unprecedented damage,” he explained.
The prime minister said that IDF operations have seriously damaged Hizbullah’s many command centers and long-range missiles. “Hizbullah has suffered a heavy blow and will take a long time to recover, if at all,” he said.
Olmert also took the opportunity to address the Lebanese people in his speech. “Lebanon is not our enemy,” he said, emphasizing that the common enemy is terror. “We have no quarrel with the Lebanese people,” he said. “They are not our enemy. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is the enemy,” and added that Nasrallah is carrying out Syria and Iran’s policies. “We have no quarrel with you,” he reiterated, adding, “We look forward to a time when we will live together in quiet and cooperation… and hopefully in peace.”
The prime minister apologized for the loss of innocent lives, as well as for the destruction to civilians in southern Lebanon, but was adamant in saying “we will not apologize” for Israel’s yearning to exist, to live in peace.
He expressed “pain and sorrow” over the loss of lives in Kafr Kana, but added that the IDF will nevertheless continue fighting until Israel’s objectives are achieved,
He named the three IDF captives who had been kidnapped by terrorists – Gilad Shalit, taken hostage on June 25th by Hamas terrorists in an attack on an army post near the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza and Egypt in the south – and Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, abducted at the northern border by Hizbullah operatives as a simultaneous rocket attack on northern Israeli communities began the war – and said there would be no ceasefire until they were returned home safely.
There was not one country in the world that would tolerate the attacks Hizbullah had carried out against the Jewish nation, he noted. Taking an expression from the Torah, he said, “The nation of Israel is a stiff-necked people, and we will not stop fighting until there is peace in our land.”
“We will stop the war when the threat is removed… our captured soldiers return home safely and you are able to live in safety and security,” he told the mayors of Israel’s besieged northern communities.
Olmert said bluntly that military operations would not end until Hizbullah had been pushed back from the northern border and its ability to harm Israel’s citizens neutralized.
“We will operate in the air, on land and sea to eradicate the terror threat from Lebanon,” he said, but warned that Israel faced “no small number of days of fighting,” and that the country “should be ready for pain, tears and blood. Missiles will still land in Israel in the coming days,” he said.
In remarks apparently aimed at the international community, Olmert said Israel had no longer been able to hold off dealing with the threat on its northern border. “We could not let the terror organization on our border get stronger, let them acquire more missiles. If we had held off, the day would have soon arrived when they would have caused unprecedented damage,” he explained.
The prime minister said that IDF operations have seriously damaged Hizbullah’s many command centers and long-range missiles. “Hizbullah has suffered a heavy blow and will take a long time to recover, if at all,” he said.
Olmert also took the opportunity to address the Lebanese people in his speech. “Lebanon is not our enemy,” he said, emphasizing that the common enemy is terror. “We have no quarrel with the Lebanese people,” he said. “They are not our enemy. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is the enemy,” and added that Nasrallah is carrying out Syria and Iran’s policies. “We have no quarrel with you,” he reiterated, adding, “We look forward to a time when we will live together in quiet and cooperation… and hopefully in peace.”
The prime minister apologized for the loss of innocent lives, as well as for the destruction to civilians in southern Lebanon, but was adamant in saying “we will not apologize” for Israel’s yearning to exist, to live in peace.
He expressed “pain and sorrow” over the loss of lives in Kafr Kana, but added that the IDF will nevertheless continue fighting until Israel’s objectives are achieved,
He named the three IDF captives who had been kidnapped by terrorists – Gilad Shalit, taken hostage on June 25th by Hamas terrorists in an attack on an army post near the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza and Egypt in the south – and Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, abducted at the northern border by Hizbullah operatives as a simultaneous rocket attack on northern Israeli communities began the war – and said there would be no ceasefire until they were returned home safely.
There was not one country in the world that would tolerate the attacks Hizbullah had carried out against the Jewish nation, he noted. Taking an expression from the Torah, he said, “The nation of Israel is a stiff-necked people, and we will not stop fighting until there is peace in our land.”