‘Changing the Face of the Middle East’

Photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel FLASH90

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference in Jerusalem, December 09, 2024.

Citizens of Israel,

At the beginning of my remarks, I would like to express condolences to the families of our seven heroic fighters who have fallen in the past day in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip: Maj. (res.) Evgeny Zinershain, Capt. (res.) Sagi Ya’akov Rubinshtein, Master Sgt. (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose, Sgt. 1st Class (res.) Erez Ben-Efraim, Staff Sgt. Ido Zano,
Staff Sgt. Barak Daniel Halpern and Sgt. Omri Cohen.

The immense pain of these families, and all the families of those who have fallen in our war of redemption, is our pain. Together with the entire nation, dear families, I embrace you from the depths of my heart.

We are in an existential war that was forced on us, in which we are defeating our enemies step by step. This is the testament of our fallen heroes, and this is the realization of the mighty spirit of the generation of victory. May the memories of our heroes be blessed and be in our hearts forever.

Citizens of Israel,

Yesterday, a new and dramatic chapter was opened in the history of the Middle East. Yesterday, the Assad regime in Syria, the main link in Iran’s axis of evil, crumbled after 54 years. Iran had invested billions in Syria, and it is all gone. This was a brutal dictatorship that trampled its citizens and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of them.

And regarding us, it fostered hostility and hatred, attacked us in the Yom Kippur War, served as a forward position for Iranian terrorism and constituted a pipeline for the transfer of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah.

I would like to say to the generations of our fighters who laid down their lives to liberate and defend the Golan Heights, and I say to the generations of residents who put down roots on the Golan Heights: Today, we all understand the great importance our presence there—on the Golan Heights, and not at the base of the Golan Heights. Our control on the Golan Heights ensures our security; it ensures our sovereignty.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my friend, President-elect Donald Trump, for acceding to my request to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in 2019. The importance of this historic recognition has been underscored today. The Golan Heights will be an inseparable part of the State of Israel forever.

Citizens of Israel,

The collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. I would like to make it clear: Additional challenges yet await us in the campaign and we are still active. Since the horrifying terrorist assault of Oct. 7, we have been working methodically, prudently and in an orderly manner to dismantle the axis of evil. This did not happen on its own, nor was it happenstance.

On Oct. 9, two days after the outbreak of the war, I told the local council heads in the south: “We will change the face of the Middle East.” My first decision, and that of the Security Cabinet, was to focus, first of all, on the south, and afterwards on the north: To eliminate Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza, and block the danger of a Hezbollah invasion in the north.

In the Gaza Strip—we cut off Iran’s arm, destroyed Hamas’s brigades, eliminated the organization’s leadership and smashed its terrorism infrastructure both above and below ground. We have returned 155 hostages, including 117 who are alive.

Now we are working to demolish Hamas’s remaining military capabilities and all of its governing capabilities, and bring back the hostages, and I emphasize, down to the last of them.

In Lebanon, we used a daring stratagem that struck a severe blow to Hezbollah: We eliminated the organization’s leadership, destroyed its terrorist strongholds close to the border—and I say terrorist strongholds which were built over decades—and destroyed a considerable part of its arsenal of Hezbollah’s missiles and rockets.

And yet, before the elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, pursuant to updated intelligence material that reached me, we reached a clear conclusion: Nasrallah himself was the axis of the axis. Strike him, and the axis will have been struck a mortal blow. Nasrallah not only fanned the flames of aggression against us, he was the connecting link between Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. Therefore, the elimination of Nasrallah was a turning point in the crumbling of the axis.

Nasrallah is no longer with us, nor is the axis what it used to be. We are dismantling it stage by stage.

Iran cleared a path of terrorism from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea: From Iran to Iraq, from Iraq to Syria and from Syria to Lebanon. In the south, it armed Hamas and in the more distant south—the Houthis, whom we have also struck hard.

The axis has not yet disappeared, but as I promised, we are changing the face of the Middle East. The State of Israel is establishing itself as a focus of strength in our region, the likes of which have not been seen for decades. Whoever cooperates with us, gains greatly. Whoever attacks us, loses greatly.

We want to see a different Syria, which will benefit both us and the residents of Syria. We proved this when we built field hospitals to care for thousands of wounded Syrians. I have said that there are hundreds of Syrian children who were born in Israel. Even today our hand is extended to those who want to live in peace with us, and we will cut off the hand of those who try to harm us.

With Defense Minister Israel Katz, and with the backing of all the members of the Security Cabinet, I ordered the [Israel Defense Forces] to seize the buffer zone between us and Syria, as well as the controlling positions close to it. This includes the summit of Mt. Hermon, what is called the Syrian Mt. Hermon, which I remember very well from the time of my service in the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit. I was active on Mt. Hermon with my Shaldag soldiers, in bone-chilling cold. Both of my brothers, Ido and Yoni of blessed memory, were active there.

Yesterday, I visited the Golan Heights. I evaluated the characteristics of the sector. I was briefed on the deployment of the IDF on the Syrian border. I instructed the army to take the actions necessary to prevent harm to our security.

Our great achievements in the war have been made possible thanks to three main things: First, thanks to the heroism of our amazing fighters, their sacrifice and their great confidence in the justice of our cause. Thanks to the fighters; thanks to the fallen. Second, thanks to the national resilience and your great steadfastness, citizens of Israel, in the south, in the north and throughout the country. Third, thanks to the determined and sagacious conduct of the war, and thanks to repelling the tremendous pressure, at home and abroad, to stop the war before we have achieved all of its goals.

I ask you, just think: If we had acceded to those who told us time and again: “The war must be stopped”—we would not have entered Rafah, we would not have seized the Philadelphi Corridor, we would not have eliminated Sinwar, we would not have surprised our enemies in Lebanon and the entire world in a daring operation-stratagem, we would not have eliminated Nasrallah, we would not have destroyed Hezbollah’s underground network and we would not have exposed Iran’s weakness. The operations that we have carried out since the beginning of the war are dismantling the axis brick by brick.

All of this was done because we insisted, because I insisted, on withstanding the pressure, not giving in to diktat, and clinging to the goals of the war until absolute victory has been achieved. The absolute victory that we were mocked over is, today, becoming reality.

Citizens of Israel, after the fall of the regime in Damascus, Hamas is more isolated than ever. It had hoped for the “unity of the sectors” and instead it has received the crumbling of the sectors. It expected help from Hezbollah and we took this from it. It expected help from Iran, and we also took this from it. It expected help from the Assad regime; this will not happen.

The isolation of Hamas opens an additional doorway to advancing a deal that will return our hostages. I said this yesterday to the hostages’ families that I met with. I must tell you, my wife and I meet with these dear family members all the time. I know what suffering they and their loved ones, the hostages, are enduring every day and every hour. Together with the members of the government and all elements in the security establishment, we are leaving no stone unturned. We will not relent for a moment from the sacred mission of bringing back all of our hostages—the living and the deceased.

Citizens of Israel,

Our history is a story of struggle, heroism and victory. We were here before our enemies and we will be here after our enemies. The world has predicted countless times that our people—the people of Israel—would not survive, but we have repeatedly proven otherwise. The people of Israel will not break; the people of Israel will not surrender. Strength and hope grow from the pain and tears.

Great challenges are yet before us, but as I view the path we have taken together up until now, I am full of hope and faith in our marvelous people, our heroic soldiers and in the knowledge that this time as well, with God’s help, the Eternal One of Israel will not lie.”

The speech was made by PM Netanyahu in Hebrew at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024.