“The entire Middle East is on the verge of an arms race, particularly if Iran continues to advance towards the nuclear threshold,” Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz warned, emphasizing that Israel “will not tolerate any violation of Israel’s sovereignty.”
Gantz spoke on Monday during the Israel Defense Prize 2021 ceremony that was awarded to four outstanding projects developed by the IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet security agency, the Ministry of Defense, and Israeli defense industries.
Israel is “vigilant in the face of all these threats. Our defense systems, most of which were developed in Israel, are deployed and our intelligence works at all times to identify threats and targets.”
“We are fully aware of what is happening in the region, and our policy is unequivocal: we will not tolerate any violation of Israel’s sovereignty – whether through the firing of incendiary balloons or rockets [from the Gaza Strip], or any other means pursued by Iran and its affiliates. We will respond forcefully, at the appropriate time, in accordance with our needs. This is what we have done in the past and this is what we will do in the future,” he declared.
Speaking on Sunday at the inauguration of the South Lebanon Army memorial monument, Gantz stated that “Israel will continue to take all possible measures to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and to thwart any escalation or attempt to harm the State of Israel on any front – air, land, sea and cyber. We will do so at the right time and place and will continue maintaining our qualitative edge.”