Hanegbi: We will prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria
“Israel will not tolerate Iranian air bases naval ports in Syria” nor will it tolerate “Shi’ite militias on its borders."
By YONAH JEREMY BOBUpdated: MAY 1, 2018 10:03Tzachi Hanegbi, Minister for Regional Cooperation at the 7th Annual JPost Conference (JBS TV)
Israel will “prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria by any means necessary and at any cost,” Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York on Sunday.“Israel will not tolerate Iranian air bases naval ports in Syria” nor will it tolerate “Shi’ite militias on its borders. I have some simple advice for the Iranian regime: do not test our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu” or the IDF or the people of Israel, he continued.Hanegbi got up close and personal describing his family’s multi-generation 110 years of living in Jerusalem and emphasized the importance of “the Jewish people returning after 2000 years of exile – and we are never leaving again!”He rattled off a long list of empires which had conquered Jerusalem over the course of history, but said that “none made it their capital. It is the only capital the Jewish people have ever known or desired.”The minister praised US President Donald Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, adding that Trump “did not prejudge future negotiations or draw borders. He recognized the historical reality of the Jewish people’s connection to Jerusalem. It is in fact, the capital of the state of Israel.”Hanegbi also slammed Hamas’s recent activities on the Gaza border, stating, “We will not allow acts of aggression under the guise of legitimate protest...terrorists using teenagers, the elderly and the disabled as human shields is not legitimate protest – it is a war crime.”