Iran fired 181 missiles at Israel on Tuesday—and now Israel has their “greatest opportunity” to “fatally cripple” the Iranian regime in response, according to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Posting to X (formerly Twitter) just hours after Israel and its allies successfully defended against the second massive Iranian attack in six months, Bennett explicitly identified Iran’s nuclear program as a proposed target in Israel’s counterstrike.
“Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East,” wrote Bennett, who was Israel’s Prime Minister for a year ending in 2022. “The leadership of Iran, which used to be good at chess, made a terrible mistake this evening. We must act *now* to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime.”
Bennett’s forceful recommendation comes as current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Iran “will pay” for the attack and even the United States was issuing stronger rhetoric than normal. After deferring repeatedly to outline the American view on how Israel should respond, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday was asked if the “severe consequences” the US had promised Iran if Tehran attacked Israel directly would be stronger than just sanctions.
“We have made clear that there will be consequences—severe consequences—for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case,” said Sullivan to reporters in comments published to the White House website.
Meanwhile, Bennett called for a direct blow to the Iranian regime, which he likened to an octopus with terrorist organizations for tentacles. He noted two key organizational “tentacles”—Hamas and Hezbollah—have been set back so much by Israel in the last year’s worth of conflict that “Iran stands exposed.”
Wrote Bennett, “The octopus’s tentacles are temporarily paralysed—now comes the head… We can grant the Iranian people an opportunity to rise up and shake off the regime that tyrannizes its women and daughters. We have the justification. We have the tools.”
Bennett later listed out a litany of attacks Iran and its terror allies have made on Israel since the terror massacre on October 7 last year, when Iran-sponsored Hamas murdered roughly 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds. Hezbollah then joined with rocket attacks of their own, along with terror proxies and Iranian allies from four other fronts.
“Over this last terrible year, Iranian tentacles murdered our families. Raped our daughters. Kidnapped our children. Ransacked our towns. Burned our fields. Fired on our ships. Terrorized children in Kiryat Shmona, Kfar Aza, and Sderot. Emptied out whole regions of our land. Humiliated us,” said Bennett.
“Now is the moment… There are times when history knocks at our door, and we must open it. This opportunity must not be missed.”
Based on what Netanyahu said on Tuesday, it sounds like he won’t. “This evening, Iran made a big mistake—and it will pay for it,” said the Israeli leader in his comments at Tuesday night’s security cabinet meeting, translated and published by Israel.
“The regime in Tehran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and to exact a price from our enemies… They will. We will keep to the rule we have determined: Whoever attacks us—we attack them.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, October 1, 2024)