‘If the world abandons Israel, Netanyahu will bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities,’ says National Security Council chief

“We won’t wait until the sword is on our neck,” says Netanyahu, after head of Israel’s National Security Council claims PM is prepared to bomb Iran to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel is prepared to use force to confront Iran, hours after a senior security official claimed the prime minister would be willing to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities if other options for preventing the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons are exhausted.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the transfer of power in the Israeli military from the outgoing Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi to the newly-promoted Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Netanyahu said Tehran “is responsible for 90% of the Middle East’s problems.”

“The radical Tehran regime’s aggression continues to threaten the stability of our region,” he stated.

“This regime is threatening to destroy us and to attack other countries. I want to be very clear: ‘We won’t wait until the sword is on our necks. The IDF, along with the Mossad and the Shin Bet, will do everything necessary to fight back against our enemies.”

The comments came after a top Israeli security official and long-time ally of the prime minister, National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi, said Netanyahu will bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities if Israel does not have support abroad for its efforts to bar Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“If we are abandoned, Prime Minister Netanyahu will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities,” Hanegbi told Channel 12.

“This is not a change, the previous government also said that it is preparing the defense forces…for a situation in which we are on our own.”

“The central mission of the prime minister and his primary obligation is to ensure that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. The alternative to an attack is accepting a reality in which a radical regime has nuclear weapons. No Israeli leader can accept that.”

Last November, Hanegbi predicted that Netanyahu will use military force against Iran’s nuclear program should the U.S. not achieve a new nuclear deal and refuse to strike Iran.

Netanyahu “will act, in my assessment, to destroy the nuclear facilities in Iran,” Hanegbi told Channel 12.

“In my assessment, he’ll have no choice. This is the story of 1981: Begin; 2007: Olmert; 2022…”

Last month, then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Israel would use force if necessary to deny Iran nuclear weapons.

“Our enemies need to know that we will not sit idly by in the face of threats that we deem to be existential. I discussed this with incoming Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, and this is one of the few topics on which there is wall-to-wall consensus among the Israeli public.

“No Israeli government will allow a nuclear Iran. If it is necessary to act, we will act,” Lapid added.

Benjamin Netanyahuiran nuclear programIran nuclear threatTzachi HanegbiYair Lapid