Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel was not bound by the 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers including the US to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, and warns that Jerusalem would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
“We will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and this [2015 nuclear] agreement does not bind us,” Netanyahu says during a speech at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at an event marking the 40th anniversary of Menachem Begin’s Likud party revolution in 1977, at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, May 4, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Netanyahu warns that Israel will “retaliate” against “those who attack or or try to attack us.”
“Those who threaten our existence put themselves in existential threat,” he promises.
“When it comes to Israel’s security, there are no compromises and in the face of the threats posed by radical Islam, we are honing defensive and offensive abilities, thus ensuring our existence,” says the prime minister, adding that radical Islam threatened the world, not just Israel.
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel