Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this evening (Monday) during a Knesset plenary session called by the opposition with 40 signatures and issued a threat to the regime in Tehran.
"I have clarified and sent a message to the Ayatollah regime that if they make perhaps the gravest mistake in their history and attack the State of Israel, we will respond with force they cannot even imagine," Netanyahu declared.
He added, "We are in complex times, we are prepared for any scenario. This is not the time for debate. In those days, on the eve of Purim, as in this time, we need to close the ranks of the people and stand shoulder to shoulder. I am confident in our strength and in our warriors. When we stand together - we achieve great things. On the eve of Purim, we will stand together - and with God's help we will ensure the eternity of Israel."
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to Netanyahu on the issue of Iran: "There is a good chance that we are facing a campaign in Iran. If this campaign comes - and it must come - we will all put everything aside. All differences of opinion will be put into deep freeze, until the crisis passes. As in the past, I will mobilize for Israel's PR and strengthen Israel's international status. As with the previous attack, I will go wherever necessary, from CNN to the British Parliament, and tell them: 'You know that I am the leader of the opposition, you know that Netanyahu and I are rivals, but Iran must be attacked with all force, the rule of the ayatollahs must be overthrown.'"
He later harshly criticized Netanyahu: "What will define you in history is October 7th. I understand the attempt to write a different history - it won't work, it doesn't work that way." He continued: "No success, no failure, will resonate in the national memory like the October 7th massacre. Let's be clear - the word is massacre."
Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman sharply criticized Netanyahu, calling him the "Prime Minister of October 7."
"This was a massacre on your watch," Liberman lashed out. "This is the most terrible massacre in the history of the state, and you are the main culprit in it."
In his remarks, Liberman referred to the answer Netanyahu submitted to the state comptroller, claiming that it ignores fateful past decisions. "You wrote a 50-page answer, but you forgot about the cabinet meeting on November 13, 2014," Lieberman recalled. "At that meeting, I demanded to begin a large-scale operation to eradicate Hamas, and you decided on a ceasefire over my head, and proposed a policy of arrangement and transferring money from Qatar to Hamas."
Liberman later mentioned his resignation as Defense Minister in 2018 on a similar background: "On November 14, I resigned from my position and said that a ceasefire with Hamas is surrender to terrorism. I tried dozens of times to reach that protocol, and I was prevented from reaching it, but don't worry - we will get there." Lieberman added and criticized the management of the current campaign and wondered about its achievements: "What is happening now, where is the complete victory? Why is there reconstruction of the Gaza Strip? Why is the State of Israel providing electricity, water, fuel and trucks every week?"