Opposition Chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) said Israel “should act as the United States did during the Cuban missile crisis,” during a solidarity visit by Likud leaders in Haifa Tuesday.The leaders met with Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav.
Netanyahu and Steinitz in Haifa (Photo: Doron Golan)
“Our goal should be to eliminate the source of fire. We don’t want to leave Nasrallah with his finger on the trigger. We must continue the operation, even without international support,” Netanyahu added.
MK Silvan Shalom (Likud) noted that the Haifa area is a prime strategic target for the enemy.
“The IDF window of operations is getting shorter. Delegations are already arriving,and we don’t have much time. I don’t object to the short term deployment of foreign forces along the Lebanese border, until Lebanon’s forces are deployed,” Shalom said.
MK Yisrael Katz said IDF ground forces should enter for short time.
“I’m not sure if we can achieve our goals without a ground operation in Lebanon. As long as we’ve already struck in Lebanon, we should go in and finish the job, but without staying there for a long time,” he stressed.
"Hizbullah satellite of Tehran'
During a Knesset plenum meeting onthe situation in the north Monday, Netanyahu said, “We refuse to take this anymore. We refuse to take the murder of our citizens silently. Israel will win because the nation of Israel is united behind the army and the security wings. We are all looking straight into the eyes of the leader of the murderers, head of the Hizbullah Hassan Nasrallah, and we’re telling him: You sowed the wind, now reap the storm.”
Netanyahu noted that “Hizbullah set its goal to murder Israeli citizens and, for that matter, murder the whole state of Israel. Tehran is the inspirational source and chief engine of international Islamic terrorism, Hizbullah is its satellite, and Syria is its way-station.”
During the northern tour, MK Yuval Steinitz told Ynet that the IDF’s decision two years ago to halt the “Nautilus Project” to develop a rocket to intercept Katyushas “was an error in judgment.”
He added that a USD 250 million budget had been allotted for the project before its cancellation. “I hope that now, when it becomes evident how exposed the Israeli front is to short-range rocket attacks, it will be renewed,” he said.