Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the JNS International Policy Summit on Sunday the story of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's assassination, and stressed that Israel will only agree to a nuclear deal that ensures Iran will not possess nuclear weapons.
According to Netanyahu, the only way to prevent the Islamic Republic from building a nuclear weapon is to dismantle "all the infrastructure of Iran’s nuclear program." A deal that comes short of that is insufficient – "a bad deal is worse than no deal. We need a good deal. And the only good deal that works is a deal like the one that was made with Libya that removed all the infrastructure.”
He stressed, "We cannot live with anything short of that—anything short of that could bring you the opposite result, because Iran will say, all right, I won’t enrich, wait, run out the clock, wait for another president, do it again. That’s unacceptable."
Iran enriches uranium “for one reason and one reason only,” he stated: “to make nuclear weapons, which they intend to use to destroy my country – and [to] threaten America once they have the weapons of delivery. Ballistic missiles, ICBMs, they will threaten every city in the United States. That is a palpable danger to Israel and to the free world.”
Noting that Israel is fighting a seven-front war "which is really only one front - Iran and its proxies," Netanyahu stressed that there is still much to be done.
"We have to finish the war in Gaza, get our hostages back and destroy Hamas," he said. "Hamas will not be there and we’re not going to put the PA (Palestinian Authority - ed.) there. Why replace one regime that is sworn to our destruction with another regime that is sworn to our destruction?"
But after the war, he added, Israel will control Gaza militarily.
Israel will “in any case” control Gaza militarily, according to Netanyahu.
Regarding Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's elimination, Netanyahu said that it was the loss of Nasrallah, who was basically second in line after Khomenei, that "really broke" the Iranian axis.
"It was a terrific blow. Some people are irreplaceable. And so far, he’s been irreplaceable. And so having delivered that blow to Hezbollah, we also delivered a blow to [former Syrian dictator Bashar] Assad, because Assad was relying heavily on Nasrallah."
Netanyahu also thanked the US for taking action against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
"We appreciate the fact that the United States is taking action against the Houthis, he said. "We appreciate the help that we’re getting from the United States. Arms are flowing in. It’s important we share the same goals, but we have to make sure that Iran does not get nuclear weapons."
While Israel does not ask anyone else to put boots on the ground, Israel does require support, including ensuring that "the UN Security Council does not make binding resolutions against Israel," so that "Israel is not sanctioned, is not choked by the international community, and that support is being threatened by the systemic public opinion campaign."
Israel also needs people to "fight back" against the media propaganda, he said. "So I ask you to continue to fight for the truth."
"And another thing - we've learned in the long history of our people. If someone says the want to kill you – believe them. My message to you is not to cower, [but] to stand up and fight back."