Tehran transfers $700 million a year to Hezbollah that “fuels” endless aggression by Iran and its proxies in the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday night at a ceremony at Jerusalem’s Ammunition Hill marking 52 years since the reunification of the city during the Six Day War.
Netanyahu said this money is transferred to Hezbollah in
various “deceitful ways.”
For instance, he said,
the Iranian Foreign Ministry transfers more than $100m. “under diplomatic
cover, ostensibly innocently, to Lebanon and then from there to Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu said these “huge sums” are then used to destabilize the region. “This is known to our neighbors. All the Arab countries know about this, and this is one of the things that brings them closer to us.”
Netanyahu said that while Israel does not underestimate Iran’s threats, “we also do not shy away from them, because whoever tries to hurt us will be harmed even worse.”
Netanyahu said Israel has proven this many times in the past, including Saturday when it responded to two missiles fired toward Israel from Syria by hitting Syrian targets in and around Damascus.
Referring to the Six Day War during which Israel gained control of Jerusalem, he said: “We proved this during those six wonderful days that brought us back to ancient parts of our homeland.”
At the weekly cabinet meeting earlier in the day, Netanyahu said the Six Day War “changed Israel’s fate, removed the stranglehold it was in, and turned us into a powerful force in the region.”
“It brought one more thing,” Netanyahu said. “The unification of the capital of Israel.”
Netanyahu said the city has changed dramatically since 1967.
“We are building it, strengthening it, worrying about its future and developing it into a prosperous city that will not only be a focal point for spirituality and the renewal of Jewish heritage, but also a city that is being renewed with global technology,” he said.
The prime minister said contemporary Jerusalem is the “right mix” of heritage and science. “That is our strength,” he said. “We built the State of Israel on that. It is the guiding principle of Zionism.”
President Reuven Rivlin used the ceremony at Ammunition Hill to thank US President Donald Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocating the embassy there last year.
“This is the time to thank President Trump and the American
people for their steadfast friendship and for his groundbreaking decision,” he
said.
“The recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has penetrated into people’s hearts. Other
embassies came to Jerusalem and without a doubt there will be others that will
move to the capital,” he said.
At the same time, the president added, “We also have a task. We also must recognize Jerusalem as our united capital, east and west.”
Rivlin’s words came as thousands of youth, mostly from the religious-Zionist community, were making their way to the Western Wall in the traditional Jerusalem Day march through the Old City.