Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed during a visit to the Golan Heights to hold on to the disputed territory and insisted that Russia understands Israel’s need to act beyond the northern border to maintain its security.
Israeli-Russian relations have become strained over the downing of a Russian spy aircraft by Syrian forces responding to an Israeli strike over Syrian airspace. Moscow has blamed Israel for the incident, which killed 15 Russian crew members, and in response has provided its advanced S-300 air defense system to Syrian forces.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of new a national heritage site in the Golan Heights, Netanyahu said: “I know [Russian president Vladimir] Putin understands my commitment to Israeli security and I know he also understands the importance I place on the Golan.”
Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes in Lebanon and Syria against Hezbollah and Iranian targets, and has said it will not allow Tehran and its proxy terror group to entrench themselves in war-torn Syria.
“We see what is happening beyond the border, unbridled barbarism and attempts by Iran and Hezbollah to set up base. We will stand firm against them,” he said. “Iran and Hezbollah are ceaselessly attempting to form a force that will operate against us, against the Golan and against the Galilee.
“We are preventing them from entrenching themselves and we will continue to act with determination to counter attempts to provide Hezbollah with lethal weapons.”
The premier said he would discuss the northern threats in an upcoming meeting with Putin which he on Sunday announced would take place “soon.” He noted, “Together we’ve developed good relations between Russia and Israel.”
Netanyahu was speaking at the opening of the Ein Kashtot site, where an ancient synagogue from the Mishnaic period (first to third century AD) has been dug up and reconstructed over the past 15 years.
Netanyahu added that beyond the Jewish state’s “ancient rights” to the Golan Heights, which it conquered from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War, the region was a necessary bulwark against attacks
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