Netanyahu vows to secure Jordanian border to prevent arms smuggling from Iran

Netanyahu said sealing the border was essential to prevent arms smuggling from Iran into Judea and Samaria.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Following a terror attack on the Israel-Jordan border on Sunday that claimed the lives of three people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he was including funds in the 2025 budget to secure the Jordanian border.

At a Security Council meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said sealing the border was essential to prevent arms smuggling from Iran into Judea and Samaria.

“Iran is also operating on the eastern front to smuggle arms to terrorists in (Judea and Samaria),” Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting.

“We resolve to strengthen our capabilities in this area and take various other steps — including constructing a barrier to prevent weapons smuggling. This will be addressed immediately in the 2025 budget,” he continued.

On the subject of the threat Iran poses, Netanyahu said, “We’re engaged in a fight against the Axis of Evil led by Iran. Our top commitment is to do everything to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”

Netanyahu added that he has been talking about the Iranian threat for 20 years, and if there hadn’t been a focus on this problem, Iran might have already had a nuclear weapon.

Netanyahu then alluded to Hezbollah, the Houthis, IRGC, and Hamas when he said, “We’re also dealing with Iran’s proxies, through which it seeks to strangle us in a chokehold.”

The premier mentioned critics who claimed he was focusing on the Iranian threat only to avoid the topic of a Palestinian State. He explained that if such a state were founded, it would “only become another Iranian terror base in the heart of our country.”

Netanyahu expressed outrage at the news that 3 Israelis were murdered by terrorists at the Allenby Bridge crossing on the border with Jordan on Sunday morning.

“An abhorrent terrorist coldly murdered three of our citizens at the Allenby Bridge crossing. I extend condolences to the victims’ families on behalf of the government and myself,” he said.

The attack occurred on the Allenby Bridge, the primary border crossing between Israel and Jordan, when a truck arriving from Jordan stopped at the terminal, and the driver exited the vehicle, opening fire on workers on the Israeli side of the border.

Three Israeli border workers, all identified as men in their 50s, were critically wounded in the shooting and later succumbed to their wounds.

“This is a very severe incident,” said Magen David Adom paramedic Yotam Tzur.

“We found three men lying unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing, with gunshot wounds. Together with the IDF medical team, we performed resuscitation efforts, but unfortunately, we had to declare their deaths on scene.”

Israeli security personnel operating at the border crossing opened fire on the terrorist, killing him.