At the start of his weekly cabinet meeting, Sunday morning, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to the words of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah who on Thursday mentioned the Israeli judicial reforms that the government in Israel is pushing for and defined it as the beginning of a civil war.
"Iran is trying to hurt us not only physically. She is also trying to harm our national morale. She is trying to undermine our unity as a people," said the Prime Minister. "I heard the words of Nasrallah who spoke about the demonstrations against the government and said with satisfaction: 'A civil war in Israel is approaching.' Well, I say to Nasrallah: don't bet on a war between brothers. It will not happen. And it won't happen because we are really brothers.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Opening Remarks At This Week's Meeting
β Adam Albilya - ΧΧΧ ΧΧΧΧΧΧΧ (@AdamAlbilya) February 19, 2023
#1 Starting w/ fighting terrorism
#2 Iran's genocidal regime
#3 Concluding w/ words of reason & unity:
-"There'll be no civil war; we've fought together to defend our state & build our land, we're brothers" pic.twitter.com/ATVKelsEVy
Netanyahu added that βthis will not happen because what Nasrallah does not understand is that we live in a democracy - and in a democracy, there are differences of opinion, there are debates, there are sometimes agreements, and when necessary there are decisions. There won't be a fratricidal war because we always remember that we fought back-to-back to defend our state and build our country."
He also referred to the words of US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, who called on him to stop the judicial reform legislation: "On this occasion, I am happy to disappoint our enemies and also to reassure our friends: Israel was and will remain a strong and vibrant democracy, an independent democracy. "But precisely against the background of the expectations of our enemy, the expectations of destruction and bloodshed in them, we need to stop talking about blood in the streets, we need to lower the height of the flames, we need to calm the spirits. This is the clear call I am reading from here, and I expect all public leaders to say these clear things. This is what the Israeli public expects from us, and this is the clear message we need to send to our enemies."
Netanyahu tells Nasrallah don't to bank on Israeli civil war.https://t.co/ezZELuFpgn pic.twitter.com/iXxHlCrFHG
β Tovah Lazaroff (@tovahlazaroff) February 19, 2023
Before entering the cabinet meeting in which Netanyahu delivered his calming speech, Minister Ofir Akunis said: "The level of incitement of the political opponents has exceeded all limits. Political murder, unfortunately, is a matter of time. Law enforcement officials will also come to their senses, this may happen. It is possible and desirable to debate the judicial reform, I am in favor of demonstrations, but we need to stop inciting."
