PM to Iranians: Israel stands with you, you’ll be ‘free sooner than people think’
In direct message to the people of the Islamic Republic, Netanyahu expresses hopes for peace and prosperity for both countries
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare direct message to the Iranian people on Monday, saying Israel “stands with you,” as it aggressively fights the Islamic Republic’s proxies across the region in response to their attacks on the Jewish state.
“Every day, you see a regime that subjugates you make fiery speeches about defending Lebanon, defending Gaza. Yet every day, that regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war,” the premier said in an English-language video statement, which was also disseminated with Persian subtitles.
Saying Iran’s “puppets” were being eliminated, Netanyahu added there was “nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people.
“With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you — the noble Persian people — closer to the abyss,” he said. “The vast majority of Iranians know their regime doesn’t care a whit about them. If it did care, if it cared about you, it would stop wasting billions of dollars on futile wars across the Middle East. It would start improving your lives.
“Imagine if all the vast money the regime wasted on nuclear weapons and foreign wars were invested in your children’s education, in improving your health care, in building your nation’s infrastructure, water, sewage, all the other things that you need. Imagine that.”
“When Iran is finally free — and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different,” he asserted. “Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace. Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace.
“When that day comes, the terror network that the regime built in five continents will be bankrupt, dismantled. Iran will thrive as never before: Global investment; massive tourism; brilliant technological innovation based on the tremendous talents that exist inside Iran. Doesn’t that sound better than endless poverty, repression and war?”
Netanyahu concluded by telling Iran not to “let a small group of fanatic theocrats crush your hopes and your dreams. You deserve better. Your children deserve better. The entire world deserves better. I know you don’t support the rapists and murderers of Hamas and Hezbollah, but your leaders do. You deserve more. The people of Iran should know — Israel stands with you. May we together know a future of prosperity and peace.”
Netanyahu’s statement comes days after the IDF killed Iran-backed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on the terrorist organization’s main headquarters in Beirut, which also killed a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official.
The news of Nasrallah’s death was celebrated by anti-regime Iranians around the world.
Following confirmation that Nasrallah had been killed in the strike, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was immediately transferred to a secure location, amid apparent fears he could be in danger.
Meanwhile, the US warned Iran that any retaliatory action against Israel for Nasrallah’s assassination or the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July would be likely to draw a stronger response from Israel than did Iran’s direct attack on Israel in April, according to the Haaretz newspaper.
That attack, which was launched in retaliation for an alleged Israeli strike on a consular building in Iran’s Damascus embassy complex that killed two generals among several IRGC officers, saw the Islamic Regime fire more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel, the vast majority of which were shot down by Israel and a US-led coalition.
Following the attack, Israel allegedly retaliated with a limited drone attack in the Iranian city of Isfahan which houses one of the regime’s largest nuclear research centers. Analysts said the strike on an S-300 air defense battery seemed intended to send a message to Tehran.
Nasrallah’s assassination came as Israel stepped up strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after a year of near-daily cross-border attacks by the terrorist organization on Israel, which the group said was in solidarity with Hamas during its ongoing war with Israel in Gaza.
After the mysterious explosions earlier this month of Hezbollah members’ communications devices, which injured thousands and were blamed on Israel, the IDF increased its strikes on the organization, killing the vast majority of its top leadership.
