‘Our war is not against you’: Netanyahu appeals to the Iranian people
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an appeal to the Iranian people in a video on Monday, telling them, “Our war is not against you.”
Israeli Prime Minister making an appeal to the people of Iran in a video released on Sept. 30, 2024. Photo by Itay Beit-On/GPO/TPS-IL
“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 English in a video posted on social media.
“With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you — the noble Persian people — closer to the abyss,” Netanayhu said. “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.”
“When Iran is finally free — and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different,” the Prime Minister added. “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.”
He went on to describe the possibility of a thriving Iranian economy with technology, innovation and tourism after Tehran’s terror network is dismantled.
“Don’t let a small group of fanatic theocrats crush your hopes and your 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.”
On Monday, signs continued to point towards an imminent Israeli ground operation in Lebanon.
On Monday morning, the Israel Defense Forces struck for the first time one of Beirut’s Sunni neighborhoods hitting an apartment block where three senior figures from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were meeting. The PFLP cooperates with Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies to finance and arm Palestinian terror cells in Shechem (Nablus).
A separate airstrike eliminated Fateh Sherif, commander of Hamas forces in Lebanon who was also the principal of a UNRWA school in Tyre.
At the same time, Israel is isolating Lebanon from the air. According to Lebanese reports, Israel ordered Iraqi planes not to fly to Beirut and ordered an Iranian plane to turn back.
After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, the Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities, killing 49 people. According to figures released by the government on Sept. 29, more than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.
Israel’s war goals include securely returning northern residents to their homes.
Israeli officials demand that Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended the Second Lebanon War of 2006. This includes all areas south of the Litani River such as the cities of Nabatieh and Tyre, as well as the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.
