‘When Israelis, Arabs agree on Iran, world should listen’

LONDON – Iran has taken over Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday morning, issuing a warning about Tehran’s growing regional dominance before heading home after a five-day trip to London.

Netanyahu was in Great Britain to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, but made use of the trip to try to sway the British government to take steps to halt Iranian aggression.

Saturday’s resignation of Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri, who feared an assassination attempt, and his warning about Iran’s inference in his country appeared to underscore the message Netanyahu delivered in meetings he held with British Prime

Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

“You just heard resigning prime minister of Lebanon Hariri say Hezbollah took over, which means that Iran took over,” Netanyahu said in an interview with the BBC on Sunday morning.

“This is a wakeup call for everyone. It says what the Middle East is really experiencing; it is experiencing the attempt of Iran to conquer the Middle East, to dominate and subjugate it,” the prime minister said.

“When Israelis and the Arabs – all the Arabs and the Israelis – agree on one thing, people should pay attention. We should stop this Iranian takeover,” he warned.

Iran is also operating in Syria and wants to colonize it, Netanyahu said, vowing that Israel would not let this happen.

“They want to bring Shi’ite and Iranian forces next to Israel, we will not let that happen. We will resist it,” he said.

Netanyahu, however, sidestepped the BBC’s question on whether Israel was prepared to go to war over the issue.

During the interview, he explained that the best way to move forward in the peace process was for the Palestinians to have a demilitarized state.

“They should have all the powers to govern themselves and none of the power to threaten us,” Netanyahu said.

“If it’s not demilitarized, then it becomes a platform to continue the war against the one Jewish state,” he added. •

(Kobi Gideon/GPO) PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, meet with leaders of the British Jewish community yesterday in London. See Page 2.