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.