At site of deadly missile attack, Herzog urges G7 to act against Iran, help free hostages

At the site of a Petah Tikva apartment building struck by an Iranian ballistic missile overnight, resulting in four fatalities, President Isaac Herzog says the Iranian regime will not “wear down” Israel.

The destruction is “pure evil… aimed at innocent civilians all over Israel,” Herzog tells media at the scene. He notes that Petah Tikva was among the first settlements established by Zionists some 150 years ago.

“But I have news for the Iranian regime,” he continues. “You think you’ll exhaust us, undermine our self-confidence — but you are entirely mistaken… I think you’re feeling it out there in Iran, and I think the Iranian people are fed up, and they want change. And so, of course, does the entire region. We deserve change.”

“Nothing will shake the Israelis,” he says.

Herzog reiterates his call for the leaders at today’s G7 summit in Canada to “stand up with us, and make clear two things: Iran must not have any capability of nuclear weapons, and secondly, bring back our hostages as soon as possible, till the last one of them, immediately.”

He adds that Israel must “not forget for even a moment our brothers and sisters held hostage in Gaza,” and says he believes the campaign against Iran “is also part of the effort to bring them back.”