Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a Shin Bet leadership conference and addressed trust in the organization, regional threats, and Israel’s security policy.
At the beginning of his speech, Netanyahu highlighted his confidence in the system, saying, "I want to begin by saying that I have full trust in the organization, full trust in its commander, David Zini. A commander with a rich history, an initiator, here’s an important word - a strategist, a reality changer. Because reality is constantly changing before us, and we must move with it."
The Prime Minister then addressed the regional threats and the emerging alliance system, noting, "On one hand, we are challenged by a wounded Shiite axis, but there is, of course, the Sunni axis of the Muslim Brotherhood. And we have a great interest in creating our own axis. An axis of countries opposing both extremes of radical Islam. This encompasses many countries. Some visit us, even today. Some of us visit them. I’m talking about a whole circle that encompasses the Middle East. I wanted to use the biblical phrase, which fits with Purim: ‘From India to Cush.’ Quite close. And everything in between and into the Mediterranean Sea. A new axis."
Netanyahu then moved to discuss Gaza and the hostages, declaring, "We have rescued the hostages, all of them, including Rani Gvilli, a hero of Israel. Now we need to complete it. We are in agreement with the international force, with the ‘Peace Council’ that Hamas must disarm, and we must demilitarize Gaza. As we always say: either this will happen the easy way, or it will happen the hard way, but it will happen. Then we must ensure Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel. There is only one force that can guarantee this. It is, of course, that the growing security responsibility will be ours."
He continued by praising the Shin Bet's activities in Judea and Samaria, saying, "The terror front in Judea and Samaria and the operation you conducted is nothing short of impressive; the joint operation with the IDF to attack terror hubs in refugee camps, essentially uprooting the centers of gravity of terrorism. I don’t think the citizens of Israel realize how many lives your operations have saved. A lot."
Finally, Netanyahu addressed the issue of illegal weapons and crime in the Arab sector, stating, "There are hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons. This stockpile - we need to reduce it, we need to take it, because a stormy day could come. We always talk about turning the barrels, from here and there, from both sides. This is a supreme task, which obviously also affects crime in the Arab sector, and you have mobilized in a very important way for joint action to deal with it. But it is a symptom of a larger issue. We want a state with law, not a wild west, not a wild south, and not a wild north."