Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a drone intercepted earlier this week in northern Israel was an armed UAV sent by Iran.
He presented the part of the drone - which was intercepted by the IDF near the northern town of Beit She'an - during a meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, saying that the incident was evidence of Tehran "supplying the infrastructure that terrorist organizations lean on."
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presenting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas with a part of the drone that was shot down in northern Israel ealier this week
(Photo: GPO)
"As we are in the midst of fighting, several days ago, Iran sent an armed UAV into Israel from Iraq or Syria," he said. "Iranian forces launched an armed drone, which our forces intercepted on the Israeli border with Jordan. I think this says everything about the real patron of terrorism in the Middle East and the World - Iran."
"In our meeting, I described that while we are fighting on multiple fronts, those who stand behind numerous acts of aggression is Iran," Netanyahu said. "Not only is Iran supporting Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and funding it, but it is also giving weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah."
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Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and his German, Czech and Slovak counterparts visit a building in the central city of Petah Tikvah that took a direct hit from a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, May 20, 2021
(Photo: EPA)
Following a meeting with Maas in IDF Central Command in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu thanked Germany's unwavering support for Israel's right to self-defense, calling the German top diplomat a "true and honorary friend of the people of Israel."
Maas, who arrived at Israel Thursday alongside the Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek and the Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok, said he came to express Germany's full solidarity with Israel. He added that Germany condemns Hamas' attacks on Israel, who he says are behind this current escalation in violence.