Netanyahu: Israel will keep Syrian territories, 'done with tolerance' to Iran axis threats
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will remain in the territories it occupied in Syria and that the country will not tolerate what it sees as a threat.
"We very much hope that we will be able to reach a demilitarization agreement for southern Syria and also take care of our Druze brothers," Netanyahu said at a meeting with Israeli ambassadors. "But we want to keep these assets," he added, speaking of the Syrian Hermon and the buffer zone.
"There is an _expression_, 'to keep the moral high ground,' so we'll keep the high ground."
Netanyahu rejected claims that normalization with Arab states can't be achieved without Palestinian statehood. "Not everything is clear in the public discourse. They said, 'It can't happen without this and without that.' They also said that about the Abraham Accords."
He added, "I would be careful with interpretations. We have made tectonic changes. That doesn't mean the [Iranian] Axis won't try to interfere. We are done with the tolerance approach. We see a threat – we act."
According to him, Israel was planning to attack Iran in June "With or without Fordow," adding that, "Fortunately for us, the U.S. president decided to join the campaign at the moment he decided."