From the Liveblog of
Saturday, July 20, 2024
Netanyahu: Strike on Houthi port shows Israel will reach its enemies, however far away
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Israel’s attack in Yemen today “makes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of Israel will not reach,” says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video statement released on Saturday evening, shortly after the end of Shabbat. He praises the IDF and the IAF for “a determined, precise and successful operation. It struck targets 1,700 kilometers from our borders,” he notes.
“I have a message for Israel’s enemies – don’t be mistaken about us,” Netanyahu says, a day before he is scheduled to fly to Washington DC. “We will protect ourselves in every way, on every front. Anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price for his aggression.”
Netanyahu also calls on the international community to enhance its measures against Iran and its proxies: “Anyone who wishes to see a stable and safe Middle East needs to stand against Iran’s axis of evil, and support Israel’s fight against Iran and its proxies – in Yemen, in Gaza, in Lebanon, everywhere.”
Netanyahu underscores that the strike on the al-Hudaydah port, which was used by the Houthis as an entry point for its weapons supplies, was a “direct response” to Friday’s deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv launched by the Houthis in Yemen in which an Israeli citizen was killed, and to the Houthis’ “aggression against Israel since the start of the war.”
“The port we attacked is not an innocent port,” Netanyahu emphasizes. “It was used for military purposes, it was used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran. And they used that weaponry to attack Israel, to attack the states of the region, and to attack some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.”
“For the past eight months,” Netanyahu says, “the Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones against Israel.”
Netanyahu thanks the US and other countries for their help in intercepting Houthi projectiles throughout this period.
“Like Hamas and Hezbollah,” says Netanyahu, “the Houthis are an integral part of Iran’s axis of evil. This axis works not only against Israel; it threatens the peace of the entire world.
“And Israel expects the international community to increase its efforts against Iran and its proxies, to thwart Iran’s aggression and to protect international freedom of navigation.”
