Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) speaks with a visiting delegation of US former generals and admirals, Jerusalem, June 27, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
The first step to stopping Iran’s attempts to take over the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, is to destroy Hamas, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The first requirement is to cut that hand, Hamas,” Netanyahu tells a visiting delegation of US former flag officers and experts on a Jewish Institute for National Security of America delegation.
“The people who did this thing to us are not going to be there,” he pledges. “We’ll have a long battle, I don’t think it’s that long, but we’ll get rid of them.”
Netanyahu adds that Israel also must “deter the other elements of the Iran terror axis.”
“But we have to deal with the axis,” he continues, arguing that the Iran-backed alliance is “on a march to conquer the Middle East… to conquer Saudi Arabia, conquer the Arabian peninsula.”
“It’s just a question of time.”
“What’s standing in the way?” he asks. “The small Satans, that’s us.”
Netanyahu says that Iran plans on going after the “medium-sized Satans” — Europe — then the American “Great Satan.”
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