Perilous Times
Netanyahu: Lebanon is becoming an extension of Iran's regime
Speaking after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's address to
thousands of Hezbollah supporters in southern Lebanon, Netanyahu says:
'We will continue to build and to protect ourselves as best we can.'
By Chaim Levinson
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Thursday that Lebanon was
turning into an "extension of the ayatollah regime in Iran".
Netanyahu made his remarks hours after Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad concluded a visit to Israel's northern neighbor, focusing
his trip on the Hezbollah strongholds south of Beirut.
"This is a tragedy for Lebanon, but Israel knows how to defend itself,"
Netanyahu said in a private meeting.
Speaking at the Independence Museum in Tel Aviv earlier Thursday,
Netanyahu declared that the very existence of the State of Israel
discredited those seeking to destroy it.
"The best response to scorners was given in this auditorium 62 years
ago," he said. "And since then, look at what a nation, what a state,
what an army we have. We will continue to build and to create, and we
will know how to protect ourselves as best as we can."
When asked whether Israel had considered assassinating Ahmadinejad
during his visit to Lebanon, Netanyahu would not answer directly. "We
consider with reason what needs to be done to protect the state."
Ahmadinejad told thousands of supporters Thursday at a rally along the
Lebanon border that Israel would disappear, while they would thrive.
Seaking in the border town of Bint Jbeil to a crowd brandishing Iranian
flags and cheering, Ahmadinejad praised Hezbollah and its southern
stronghold as "the foremost shield of Lebanon."
Bint Jbeil was the location of fierce fighting between the Israel
Defense Forces and the Iranian-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah during
the Second Lebanon War of 2006, and the location of a victory speech by
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah after Israel ended two decades
of occupation of south Lebanon.
"You are the heroes that guard Lebanon's sovereignty," Ahmadinejad told
supporters. "You have proven that no force in the world can beat you.
The resistance of the Lebanese nation, drawn from faith in God, can
stand up to any Israeli force – planes, tanks and ships."
The U.S. and Israel have called Ahmadinejad's visit to Bint Jbeil,
located just a couple miles from the Israeli border, an intentionally
provocative move. Oil-rich Iran has invested heavily in helping to
rebuild the town.
"The Zionists planned to destroy this village, but it stood strong
against the occupiers," Ahmadinejad said. "The world should know the
Zionists are mortal ... today the Lebanese nation is alive and is a
role model for the regional nations," Ahmadinejad said.
"The whole world should know that the Zionists will eventually
disappear and Bint Jbeil will remain alive," he said.