In a rare move, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday addressed Iranians amid Israel‘s massive aerial onslaught on Lebanon territory with the aim to wipe out Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has played an active role in the Gaza war since Hamas‘s October 7 attack.
Addressing citizens of the Shiite theocratic state, Netanyahu called them “noble Persian people” while admonishing the Khamenei regime for plunging the Middle East “deeper into darkness” and not doing enough for Iranians in health, education and infrastructure.
Netanyahu further claimed, “When Iran is finally free — and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different”.
“Every day, you see a regime that subjugates you, make fiery speeches about defending Lebanon, defending Gaza. Yet every day, that regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war,” Netanyahu said in an English statement, going on to boast of Israel’s military might and recent assassinations of terror leaders.
Netanyahu said that “the vast majority of Iranians know their regime doesn’t care a whit about them”.
“If it did care, if it cared about you, it would stop wasting billions of dollars on futile wars across the Middle East. It would start improving your lives. Imagine if all the vast money the regime wasted on nuclear weapons and foreign wars were invested in your children’s education, in improving your health care, in building your nation’s infrastructure, water, sewage, all the other things that you need. Imagine that,” the Israeli PM.
Netanyahu further added: “When Iran is finally free — and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different.” He said, “Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace. Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace.”
The Israeli PM said that when the day of Iranian independence comes the “terror network that the regime built in five continents will be bankrupt, dismantled”.
Netanyahu, concluding his speech, urged the Iranians not be let small groups of “fanatic theocrats crush their hopes and dreams”.
“You deserve better. Your children deserve better. The entire world deserves better. I know you don’t support the rapists and murderers of Hamas and Hezbollah, but your leaders do. You deserve more. The people of Iran should know – Israel stands with you. May we together know a future of prosperity and peace,” Netanyahu said.
Fear of conflict escalating into a full-blown war between Israel and Iran-backed proxies has grown deeper ever since Israel eliminated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and over a dozen of its top commanders and decapitated Hezbollah’s command centres by crippling its communication lines through pagers and walkie-talkie blasts.
Israel, according to a few reports, is also mulling ground invasion in Lebanon which will only worsen the situation in the Middle East which remains at the brink.