Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern warning to Iran on Wednesday, asserting that any attack on Israel would provoke a response that is "even more powerful."
Speaking at the annual state memorial ceremony for Ze’ev Jabotinsky at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, Netanyahu declared, "I say this to the tyrants in Iran: Do not mistake us. If we are attacked, we will respond with power." He emphasized that such a response would not be a repeat of past events, stating, “It will not be a replay. It will be a different event altogether.”
Netanyahu also reaffirmed his commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, stating, “As long as I am the prime minister of Israel, Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons.” He claimed that Israel had neutralized the immediate threat of a nuclear-armed Tehran through two military operations in the past two years.
"We settled accounts with those who wish us harm, from Gaza to Yemen, from Lebanon to Iran. We acted with power, took the offensive and used stratagems against the Iranian axis, which for years had invested hundreds of billions of dollars to make us bleed. We brought back our hostages, down to the very last one,” Netanyahu said.
He further explained that Israel has fundamentally altered its national security doctrine following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks. The previous policy of containment has been replaced by an approach of taking the fight directly to adversaries. "There is no more containment of threats. There are no more terrorist armies on our borders," the prime minister stated, referencing the establishment of security zones within the Gaza Strip, Southern Lebanon, and Syria. He added that these buffer zones would be maintained by the Israel Defense Forces as long as threats persist from neighboring countries.
On October 7, 2023, thousands of Gazan militants breached Israel's southern border, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people, thousands injured, and the abduction of 251 individuals, initiating the War of Redemption. The conflict has since expanded beyond Gaza, encompassing engagements with Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, clashes with terrorist groups in Judea and Samaria, military operations in Syria, responses to Houthi attacks from Yemen, strikes within Iranian territory, and retaliatory actions against attacks originating from Iraq.