Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened the Houthi leaders to destroy their infrastructure and “behead” their leaders, referring to what they did to the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah. He also acknowledged Israel’s responsibility for overthrowing the Assad regime in Damascus.
In the first public acknowledgment that Israel was behind Haniyeh’s killing in the Iranian capital, Katz said: “We will strike the Houthis hard, target their strategic infrastructure, and behead their leaders, just as we did with Haniyeh, (Yahya) Sinwar, and (Hassan) Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon, and we will do so in Hodeidah and Sanaa.”
He added in a statement by the Ministry of Defense: “I want to convey to the Houthis a clear message. We defeated (Hamas), we defeated (Hezbollah), we blinded Iran’s defense systems, and we damaged its production systems.”
The Israeli Defense Minister continued: “We overthrew the Assad regime in Syria, and we dealt severe blows to the axis of evil, and we will also severely strike the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, which remains the last organization to target Israel.” He threatened, “Anyone who raises his hand against Israel will be cut off, and the long hand of the Israeli army will strike him and hold him accountable.”
In turn, the head of the “Israel Our Home” party, Avigdor Lieberman, criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and wondered what absolute victory he was talking about while residents of Tel Aviv were rushing to shelters and Israeli soldiers were being killed in Gaza.
In his speech before the plenary session on the Houthi attack and the security situation, Lieberman said angrily: “What is the ‘complete victory’ that Bibi is talking about? Residents run to shelters at two in the morning, and three soldiers fall in Gaza. What is complete victory?” What are you celebrating?
A few days ago, Netanyahu spoke to the American newspaper “The Wall Street Journal” about the most important strategic decisions that led Israel to achieve what he described as a “historic victory” against Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian axis.
The Israeli Knesset extends the state of emergency in the country for another year
Today, Tuesday, the Israeli Knesset voted in favor of extending the state of emergency in the country for another year. Local media reports stated that the extension is valid until December 25, 2025, after 29 out of 120 representatives voted in favor of it. Seven voted against the resolution, while the rest of the members were absent or abstained from voting, according to the German News Agency.
It is noteworthy that a state of emergency enables the government to issue emergency decrees. Israel declared a state of emergency, which was later extended, following the outbreak of the Gaza War, following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which claimed the lives of about 1,200 people and resulted in the taking of about 250 hostages.
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