The barrage of at least 130 rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel on Tuesday (May 29) this week by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists was an attack masterminded by Iran, according to Education Minister and Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett.
“All of the escalation from the Gaza side is not coincidental and is not local,” Bennett told reporters during his visit to a classroom in a Gaza Belt-area community on Wednesday morning.
“The brain [behind the attacks] is an Iranian brain; the hand is the hand of Hamas.”
Bennett said Israel is engaged in a focused and consistent campaign against “the octopus that is Iran, which has spread its tentacles in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza in order to destroy the State of Israel.” He told reporters the state is engaged in conducting an economic, political and military campaign against Iran.
Iran, he said, is attempting to create provocations in Gaza through one of its “tentacles.”
But while the IDF is providing security to residents of the Gaza Belt, and Israeli forces strike Hamas in Gaza, he said, “We must not drop the ball and we cannot lose sight of our main target — Iran. The moment we destroy the head of the octopus, our situation vis a vis the tentacles of Tehran will be much better.”
He gave “full credit and backing” to the IDF Chief of Staff, the army, and the defense establishment, for its “responsible, considered and correct management” of the security of Israel.
Bennett also urged policy makers to continue to view “both the Islamic Jihad and also Hamas as proxies of Iran. Yahya Sinwar is deeply invested in Iran both from an economic and ideological standpoint,” he warned.
Lest anyone question whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman might be making unilateral military decisions, Bennett also noted that the Security Cabinet is the one making all the policy decisions for the State of Israel at this point.
“The other side will make the decision on what happens from here, and they will decide their fate,” he added. “We have not reached any agreement with regard to Hamas. We are operating in the interests of Israel alone.”