Intel minister vows harsh response if Iran attacks

Regarding Iran’s involvement in Syria, Katz said that “if the Iranian undermining does not stop, Israel will be forced to continue doing everything possible to defend itself.”

By GIL HOFFMAN
Updated: SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 15:19
Intelligence Services Minister Israel Katz at Succot party, September 25, 2018 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Intelligence Services Minister Israel Katz at Succot party, September 25, 2018
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Intelligence Services Minister Israel Katz warned Iran not to attack Israel after the Islamic Republic blamed the Jewish state and vowed retaliation for an attack on an Iranian military parade Saturday that killed at least 25 people.
Speaking at his annual Succot party near his home on Moshav Kfar Ahim in the northern Negev, the minister in charge of Israel’s intelligence agencies predicted that the regime of Ayatollahs in Iran would soon disappear.
“Israel had no involvement in the Iran explosion,” Katz said. “But if they attack us, we will respond with full force.”
Katz also threatened Hezbollah, saying that if it attacks Israel, its leader Hassan Nasrallah would be harmed and “Lebanon will pay a heavy price and will return many generations backward.”
Regarding Iran’s involvement in Syria, Katz said that “if the Iranian undermining does not stop, Israel will be forced to continue doing everything possible to defend itself.”
He said that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad was exclusively responsible for the downing of the Russian plane and the death of its 15 passengers. As for the Gaza periphery, Katz said there would be no tolerance for terror tunnels, missiles, mortars and kites.
Turning his fire to the media, Katz complained about the negative coverage of the new Jerusalem rail line that goes to Ben-Gurion International Airport and not yet directly to Tel Aviv as he had promised.
“The press has been off the rails with its criticism,” he told the crowd of thousands of Likud activists. “The media is upset because it was the Likud that inaugurated the rail line to Jerusalem. But it will be the public who will give the answer to the press.”
Katz, who correctly predicted 30 seats for the Likud in his Succot party four years ago, said the party would “win 40 mandates and maybe even more” in the next election that will be held in 2019.