Politics President: Israel does not want war, but wants to protect citizens

SDA

22.9.2024 - 12:02

ARCHIVE - "We don't want to get into a war with Lebanon, but Lebanon has been hijacked by a terrorist organization, which is a political party in Lebanon called Hezbollah," Izchak Herzog said. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
ARCHIVE - "We don't want to get into a war with Lebanon, but Lebanon has been hijacked by a terrorist organization, which is a political party in Lebanon called Hezbollah," Izchak Herzog said. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
Keystone

According to President Izchak Herzog, Israel is not interested in a war against Lebanon, but must protect its citizens. "We don't want to get into a war with Lebanon, but Lebanon has been hijacked by a terrorist organization, which is a political party in Lebanon called Hezbollah," Herzog told British TV station Sky News. "It has been armed to the teeth by the Iranian evil empire."

Keystone-SDA

Herzog defended Israeli attacks on targets in Lebanon. The Hezbollah leaders who were killed on Friday had intended to launch "the same horrible, horrible attack that Hamas did on October 7 (2023) when they burned Israelis, slaughtered them, raped their women, kidnapped old people and little babies and took them hostage," Herzog said. "So we are fighting a war for the whole free world. We don't want to go to war. We want to take our citizens back to their homes on the border with Lebanon."