Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday morning that his office is working on bringing the United States and Russia together for a summit to address the ongoing threat of Iran in the Middle East. The summit would be held in Jerusalem and would involve all three countries.
There is a current effort to hold another trilateral summit with Russia, the US and Israel here in Jerusalem, to continue discussing Iran's removal from Syria. We will continue to take all diplomatic, security, intelligence and professional steps to achieve the goals we have set.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 3, 2019
Over the past few days tensions with Hezbollah, an Iranian backed terrorist organization based in Lebanon, have increased significantly. Israel received fire from its northern border with Lebanon and shot back. The United States and a number of Middle Eastern countries condemned Hezbollah's actions, which did not go unnoticed by the Israeli government.
This shows the fundamental change taking place in the Middle East. The Arab world also understands that the Iranian aggression endangers not only Israel, but the entire region as well. I call on additional countries to come out against the aggression of Iran and its proxies.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 3, 2019
I would like to take this opportunity to again thank President @realDonaldTrump and @SecPompeo, who took the bank that provides Hezbollah with most of its funds and put it on the sanctions list. This is very important.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 3, 2019
I defined three main goals for the IDF and the security arms in the following order: First, to stop and prevent the Iranian nuclear project. Second, to prevent Iran from supplying our enemies and its proxies, such as Hezbollah and others, with precision weapons that endanger us.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 3, 2019
And third, to prevent Iran and its proxies from entrenching on our borders.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 3, 2019
In effect, we are acting vis-à-vis all of these goals, in part openly and a considerable part covertly. We are determined to maintain the security of Israel.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the issue of Iran before the long weekend and reiterated U.S. support for Israeli actions against the rogue regime. Israel has been bombing Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq for months.
"The United States has made it very clear that that country [Israel] has not only the right but the duty to protect its own people. And we are always supportive of their efforts to do that. So with respect to ensuring that Israel is treated fairly at the United Nations, Israel can certainly count on the United States of America," Pompeo said.
