Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Thursday with retired U.S. generals and admirals, and in a video published by his office, he is heard warning them that the terror axis led by Iran is on the march to "conquer Saudi Arabia."
The statement comes amid the Biden administration's efforts—hindered by Netanyahu's opposition to acknowledging the eventual formation of a Palestinian state—for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
(Video: Itay Beit-On/GPO, Sound: Ben Peretz/GPO)
Netanyahu warned against Iran and its proxies, saying: "We also have to deter the other elements of the Iran terror axis. But we have to deal with the axis. The axis doesn’t threaten only us. It threatens you. It's on the march to conquer the Middle East. Conquer the Middle East. Conquer. That means, actually, conquer. Conquer Saudi Arabia, conquer the Arabian Peninsula. It's just a question of time."
A transcript of Netanyahu's statement was also published by his office. While it seems likely that Netanyahu meant to highlight the dangers of the strengthening of Iranian influence in the region, his remarks suggested a concern about an actual physical occupation.
The meeting with the former U.S. military generals and admirals was held at the Kirya defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, initiated by the Jewish-American organization JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security of America).
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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: Jim WATSON / AFP, Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS)
According to the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu reviewed the challenges facing Israel on all fronts with the members of the delegation and "emphasized the determination of IDF fighters and the commitment to returning all of the hostages." He also stressed that Israel's war "is the war of the entire Free World," according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.
"Iran is fighting us on a seven-front war: obviously, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, the militias in Iraq and Syria, Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, Iran itself. They'd like to topple Jordan. Their goal is to have a combined ground offensive from various fronts, coupled with a combined missile bombardment," Netanyahu told them.
"The first requirement is to cut that hand – Hamas. People who do this thing to us are not going to be there. We have a long battle. I don’t think it's that long, but we'll get rid of them."