Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference this evening (Monday) against the backdrop of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and hours before his testimony in court.
This is the first press conference conducted by the Prime Minister after many months in which Netanyahu has avoided holding a press conference.
Netanyahu began by addressing the deaths of seven IDF soldiers over the last day, four of whom fell in combat in southern Lebanon and three of whom fell in combat in northern Gaza. Addressing the families of the fallen, he said, "Together with the entire people, I embrace you from the bottom of my heart."
Turning to the recent developments in Syria, he said, "Yesterday, a new and dramatic chapter opened in the history of the Middle East - the Assad regime fell. This was a central link in Iran's axis of evil. Everything Iran invested went down the drain."
He stated that recent events demonstrated the need for Israel to hold onto the Golan Heights that it captured during the 1967 Six Day War.
"Today everyone understands the great importance of our presence on the Golan Heights and not at the foot of the Golan Heights," Netanyahu said.
"We want to see things be different in Syria. Both for our own good and for the good of the citizens of Syria," he added..
"We are dismantling the axis of evil. This did not happen by itself and did not happen by chance. I already said on October 9 to the municipal leaders in southern [Israel] that we would change the face of the Middle East."
Regarding the southern front, where the war with Hamas continues, Netanyahu said, "We are working to destroy the remnants of Hamas' military power and its governing capacity, and to return all the kidnapped, and I emphasize - every last one of them."
He dismissed the criticism he has received over the last year that the goal of total victory over Hamas is unrealistic and said, "If we had stopped the war, we would not have eliminated Sinwar and Nasrallah. Neither Hezbollah nor Syria, and we would not have struck Iran. All because we insisted on total victory. What they mocked is becoming a reality."