Lapid: Europe must bear in mind Israel is under attack
Europe must remember that Israel is under constant threat from Iran when it criticizes us, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
“I accept that part of our dialogue is a moral judgment,” he said. “I want to hear your opinions with an open mind. But it is not too much to expect that this dialogue will take into consideration that my home is under attack.”
Lapid called Iran “the No. 1 exporter of terrorism in the world, which never gave up on its ambition to attain a nuclear weapon and never hid who its target is for that weapon: Us. Israel.”
Iran backs Hezbollah in Lebanon to the north and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to the south, he said.
Hamas uses Gazans as human shields, Lapid said, but that “does not exempt us from the responsibility to always try to minimize harm to civilians.”
EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell invited Lapid to speak before the Foreign Affairs Council, making him the first Israeli to address the forum that determines the EU’s foreign
al-Mashhadani, who acted as a liaison with Tehran, the Shin Bet said.
The relationship between the two was also based on alleged business opportunities in Arab countries in the region, it said.
The investigation found that Qian had at one point asked to meet with other operatives on behalf of Mashhadani, had understood that they were Iranian intelligence agents and “even emphasized the secrecy of the planned meeting between the parties,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.
The meeting between the two never occurred, “despite
the willingness of Qian,” the statement said.
Qian supported the Telem Party of former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon and was also a key activist for the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party in the Negev during the last election.
The Southern District Attorney’s Office filed the indictment in the Beersheba District Court.
“The current investigation is part of the activities of the Israeli defense establishment in recent years, in the face of Iran’s and Hezbollah’s efforts to mobilize operatives in Israel and abroad to harm senior figures in the political and security establishment and to gather intelligence,” the Shin Bet said.