If the repressive theocracy in Iran is to be toppled, it will only be done by the people, but attacks on Tehran's nuclear facilities by Israel and the U.S. cracked the Islamic Republic's "veneer of invincibility," Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Newsmax on Wednesday.
"It has to come from the people," Netanyahu said during a special edition of "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE" from Jerusalem. "It wasn't one of our old war aims, but it could be one of its results because I think that the picture that they had of this overpowering bullying force [of a] fanatical regime that can sweep everything in its way, I think that's been cracked by our action, by the fact that President [Donald] Trump made this bold decision to join us.
"It just cracked this veneer of invincibility, and that applies not only to the region and to the prospects of destroying completely, the Iranian axis, the terror axis, at opening the path for peace, but also inside Iran itself because the Iranian people yearn for freedom. They yearn to be free from almost half a century of this terror tyranny, and that could very well happen. But it's really up to those people themselves."
Netanyahu, who also spoke Wednesday at Newsmax's fourth annual Fourth of July celebration in Jerusalem, said it's easy to understand how dangerous Iran is to not only the Middle East but also to the U.S.
"Just look at what they say and look at what they do," he said. "What they say is, 'Death to America, death to Israel,' but ‘Death to Israel' because Israel stands in their way to conquering the Middle East and going after America, or building ICBMs, intercontinental ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear weapons that could reach the United States. For them, their goal is America.
"They tried twice to assassinate the president of the United States, Donald Trump. They killed, as you said, your colleagues and wounded and killed thousands of Americans with their IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan. They bombed American embassies. They murdered 251 Marines in Beirut. This is a force of fanaticism that is aimed to destroy our common civilization."
Netanyahu said there is no doubt that if Iran had a nuclear weapon it would be used against Israel.
"They said they would," he said, "and you know, one thing we've learned in Jewish history, if somebody says they're out to annihilate you the way Hitler did, believe them."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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