4 | DECEMBER 19 • 2024 J
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essay

‘We Are Changing the Face of the Middle East’
C

itizens 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 Dec. 8 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.
On Dec. 8, a new and dramatic
chapter was opened in the history of
the Middle East. 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 slaugh-
tered hundreds of thousands of them.
And regarding us, it fostered hos-
tility 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 genera-
tions of our fighters who laid down
their lives to liberate and defend the
Golan Heights, and I say to the gen-
erations of residents who put down

roots on the Golan Heights: Today, we
all understand the great importance
of 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 opportuni-
ty to thank my friend, President-elect
Donald Trump, for acceding to my
request to recognize Israel’s sovereign-
ty over the Golan Heights, in 2019.
The importance of this historic rec-
ognition has been underscored today.
The Golan Heights will be an insepa-
rable part of the State of Israel forever.
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 dis-
mantle the axis of evil. This did not
happen on its own, nor was it happen-
stance.
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’
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’ bri-
gades, eliminated the organization’s
leadership and smashed its terrorism
infrastructure both above and below
ground. We have returned 155 hostag-
es, including 117 who are alive.
Now we are working to demolish
Hamas’ remaining military capabili-
ties and all of its governing capabili-
ties, 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 bor-
der — 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 also 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 terror-
ism 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 extend-
ed 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

Benjamin
Netanyahu

PURELY COMMENTARY

Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu holds
a press conference
at his office in
Jerusalem.
Dec. 9, 2024.

YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90.