JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned Yemen’s Houthis of retaliation after the militia claimed a missile attack on central Israel.
“This morning, the Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office.
“Those who need a reminder in this matter are invited to visit the port of Hodeida,” he added, referring to Yemen’s Red Sea city that Israeli warplanes bombed in July after the Houthis claimed a drone strike that killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.
The Houthis are among the Iran-backed groups in the Middle East that have been drawn into the conflict triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.
On Israel’s northern flank, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement has traded regular cross-border fire with Israeli forces in exchanges that threaten to spiral into all-out war.
On Sunday morning about 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward Israel’s Upper Galilee region and the annexed Golan Heights, Israel’s military said.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border, and Netanyahu said on Sunday that the current situation was not sustainable.
“The existing situation will not continue. We will do everything necessary to return our residents safely to their homes,” he said.
“We are in a multi-arena campaign against Iran’s evil axis that strives to destroy us.”
He described speaking with residents and authorities in the north, saying, “I hear the distress, I hear the cries.
“The status quo will not continue. This requires a change in the balance of power on our northern border.”
Israel PM warns Houthis of ‘heavy price’ after missile attack
https://arab.news/jzd3c
Israel PM warns Houthis of ‘heavy price’ after missile attack
- The Houthis are among the Iran-backed groups in the Middle East that have been drawn into the conflict triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack
Israeli FM urges Jews to move to Israel a week after Sydney attack
- “Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!” Saar said
JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Sunday for Jews in Western countries to move to Israel to escape rising antisemitism, one week after 15 were shot dead at a Jewish event in Sydney.
“Jews have the right to live in safety everywhere. But we see and fully understand what is happening, and we have a certain historical experience. Today, Jews are being hunted across the world,” Saar said at a public candle lighting marking the last day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
“Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!” Saar said at the ceremony, held with leaders of Jewish communities and organizations worldwide.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli leaders have repeatedly denounced a surge in antisemitism in Western countries and accused their governments of failing to curb it.
Australian authorities have said the December 14 attack on a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach was inspired by the ideology of the Islamic State jihadist group.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Western governments to better protect their Jewish citizens.
“I demand that Western governments do what is necessary to fight antisemitism and provide the required safety and security for Jewish communities worldwide,” Netanyahu said in a video address.
In October, Saar accused British authorities of failing to take action to curb a “toxic wave of antisemitism” following an attack outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, in which two people were killed and four wounded.
According to Israel’s 1950 “Law of Return,” any Jewish person in the world is entitled to settle in Israel (a process known in Hebrew as aliyah, or “ascent“) and acquire Israeli citizenship. The law also applies to individuals who have at least one Jewish grandparent.zz
