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Arab countries getting sick of ‘Iran’s touch’, says Bennett

Addressing Lebanon and Iraq, the Israeli premier said that we’re seeing “developments and trends that begin from the bottom, forces that are sick and tired of Iranian control.”

By Tobias Siegal, World Israel News

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said during Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting that various forces in the region are losing patience with Tehran and its ongoing attempts at expanding its influence in the Middle East.

Addressing regional developments from the past week, the Israeli premiere said that “looking around, we are closely monitoring the developments in Lebanon and a bit more to the east, in Iraq,” referring to armed clashes between Hezbollah terrorists and the Lebanese army in Beirut and the recent elections in Iraq that saw the rise of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, considered a harsh critic of Iran.

“In both cases, we see developments and trends that begin from the bottom, forces that are sick and tired of Iranian control,” Bennett continued, “be it Hezbollah in Lebanon or Shi’ite militias in the case of Iraq, that suffered a severe blow in last week’s elections.”

Reiterating his speech given to the United Nations General Assembly last month, Bennett said that regional instability and violence are the constant outcomes of Iran’s meddling in other countries’ internal affairs. “Every place Iran goes, it enters a tailspin of violence, poverty, instability and failure,” he stated.

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“I hope that the Lebanese and Iraqi people will successfully free themselves from the tight grasp of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and build better lives for themselves,” Bennett concluded, referring to the threat of Iranian influence as “the Iran touch.”

He then moved on to talk about Aliyah Day, which was celebrated in Israel last week and highlights the contributions of people who have immigrated to Israel.

“Aliyah is an issue of strategic importance and its expansion is a supreme national goal,” he said. “Together with my fellow members around the Cabinet table, we are also active in this area. The State of Israel is the home of the Jewish people and our aspiration is to continue bringing home as many of our brothers and sisters as possible, and especially to look after those who are already here. This is where the failure has been in recent years – we have known how to bring people here. but when they get here, the treatment has not been good enough.”

Noting the continued decline in new COVID cases registered in Israel, Bennett said that the “positive trend is continuing” and that the country is “defeating the fourth wave.” Still, he noted, “it isn’t over until it’s over,” stating that “we are not taking the foot off the gas and are not taking off the masks” just yet.