Israeli Leaders Praise Trump for Soleimani's Death, Netanyahu Assures Israel's Support

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

While the debate about whether or not President Donald Trump’s ordering of the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani is a good thing or not, Israel and its leaders are fully on board and applauding the move.

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According to the New York Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had nothing but good things to say about the slaying of the terrorist general and said so during a brief interview with the press before leaving Greece:

“President Trump is worthy of full appreciation for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively,” he told reporters before departing Greece to head back to Israel.

“We stand fully by the United States in its just battle for security, peace and self-defense,” Netanyahu said, adding that “just as Israel has the right of self-defense, the United States has exactly the same right.”

“Qassem Soleimani is responsible for the death of American citizens and many other innocent people. He was planning more such attacks,” he said.

Former military chief of staff and Netanyahu’s primary political opponent, Benny Gantz, also didn’t have anything bad to say about the move.

“The killing of Soleimani is a message to all the head of global terror: on your own heads be it,” Gantz said, adding that the assassination was “fitting for anyone whose action brings about the murder of innocents and the destabilization of the region and the world.”

Former director of Israel’s Mossad forces also praised the move according to the New York Post:

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Ram Ben Barak, the former deputy director of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, said that Soleimani’s death was “a blow to the Quds Force.”

“There was almost no terror attack in the last 20 years that didn’t have Qassem Soleimani’s fingerprints on it,” Ben Barak told Israeli Army Radio. “The [Iranian] entrenchment in Syria, arming [the Lebanese Shiite militia] Hezbollah, the [Hezbollah] precision-guided missile project, contacts with Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

“There was almost nothing that happened that Soleimani wasn’t involved in actively,” he said, according to NPR. “He initiated, pushed and checked it was done.”

While expressions of fear of reprisals have been brought up by Israeli officials, the country appears ready to stand by the United States in the event of escalation.

 

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