Defense minister warns ‘all of Israel’s enemies are targets’

‘We are being attacked from seven different arenas: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, [Judea and Samaria], Iraq, Yemen, and Iran.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee that Israel is engaged in a war on seven fronts, and all of Israel’s enemies are potential targets.

“We are being attacked from seven different arenas: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, [Judea and Samaria], Iraq, Yemen, and Iran,” Gallant said.

He added, “We have already responded and acted in six of these areas, and I say here in the clearest way: Anyone who acts against us is a potential target, there is no immunity for anyone.”

Gallant conceded that the road to victory for Israel isn’t going to be easy and that the current conflict is “a long, hard war. It has costs — heavy costs — but its justification is the highest that can be.”

The Defense Minister emphasized the risks and dangers that could result from not finishing the war and falling short of the goal of removing Hamas from power.

He said, “Without meeting the goals of the war, we will find ourselves in a situation where… the problem will be that people will not want to live in a place where we do not know how to protect them.”

“We need determination, endurance, strength, and national cohesion with the goals. It is a battle in which the one who survives is the one who is stronger at the national level, in its values, and in its unity. This is a battle of national determination, and I tell you that we will defeat Hamas.”

A plan presented to the Israeli cabinet Tuesday details the third phase of the war in northern Gaza, which could last as long as two years.

The cabinet discussed the continuation of IDF operations in the Hamas stronghold of Khan Younis, as well as the beginning of the third phase of operations in northern Gaza.