Speaking to students, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it is clear today that most terrorism which Israel faces stems from Iran. Mr Netanyahu also said that those who try to destroy Israel also risk destruction themselves.
He said: “And this is the main point – you can negotiate with an enemy that has decided to stop being your enemy.
“They always say, ‘You make peace with your enemies.’
“Peace you make with enemies that decided to stop being an enemy.
“But enemies that continue to fight against you, who say openly that they want to destroy you – there is only one way to deal with them: If someone rises to kill you, rise up and kill him first, and prevent him from getting game-changing weapons.”
Israel currently has mounting tensions with Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu said: “A new empire has arisen with the goal of defeating us.
“They build proxies in Lebanon in the form of Hezbollah, in Gaza in the form of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“They are trying to entrench themselves in Iraq to turn it into not only a country through which it can transfer arms to Syria and Hezbollah, but also to turn it into a launching pad for rockets and infiltration against us.”
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Mr Netanyahu said that Israel’s presence in the West Bank is essential in stopping terrorist attacks.
He said: “We are not only engaged in hot pursuit, but we are shaking the leaves all the time.”
However, the Israeli Prime Minister also said: “it is impossible to stop them all.”
Yet, he maintains that Israel does find all the perpetrators of the attacks.
He also said that Israel is currently dealing with radical Islam.
Mr Netanyahu said that the last five years had been marked by the lowest number of combined civilian and IDF casualties since the 1967 Six Day War.
He said: “This comes as a result of a willingness to fight.
“We are not eager to fight because we know the price we pay, but when it is necessary, we are not deterred.”
Recently, Mr Netanyahu confirmed it has launched strikes, with the Prime Minister claiming on Twitter that a strike on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard near Damascus in Syria was due to the fighters targeted Israelis living in the Golan Heights.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah – considered a proxy of Tehran – has accused Israel of striking its media centre in Beirut.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group claim Israeli drones had killed one of their fighters and injured another near the Syrian border.