Netanyahu dismisses appeals for moderation

Israel’s leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that his country will make its own decision regarding how to respond to Iran’s recent major air attack and will not heed advice to proceed with caution from allies.

Israel promised to react to Iran’s unusual attack, but didn’t say when or how. This has made the region worried about more fighting after months of problems because of the war in Gaza.

Israel’s friends have been telling Israel not to react in a way that could make the situation worse since the attack. The British and German foreign ministers made the same calls again on Wednesday.

Iran’s president said if anyone tries to invade their country, they will respond with a strong and harsh reaction. Violence got worse on Wednesday between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran. Hezbollah fired a lot of rockets and drones at northern Israel. At least 14 Israeli soldiers were hurt in the attack, with six of them in serious condition, according to the army. The army said it attacked Hezbollah’s bases far inside Lebanon as a reaction.

Netanyahu talked to his Cabinet and said he met with foreign ministers on Wednesday. He thanked them for supporting their countries. He said that Israel will decide what to do by itself, even though it’s getting suggestions from its allies like the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. These countries helped Israel fight off Iran’s drone and missile attack.

I want to make it clear: we will decide for ourselves. Netanyahu said that Israel will do whatever it takes to protect itself.

Even though Israel talks tough, it probably won’t attack Iran without help from the US. Instead, it might use secret tactics like targeting Iranian commanders in other countries or using cyber attacks.

We don’t know how Iran would react, since there is a lot of tension. If either side makes a mistake, it could start a big war in the area.

Joe Biden’s team decided to punish Iran and is trying to get other countries to also criticize the attack. They are asking everyone to calm down and not make the situation worse. Earlier this week, US officials said that Biden told Netanyahu that the US will not join in any attacks on Iran.

During the weekend, Iran attacked Israel with many missiles and drones because they think Israel attacked their embassy in Syria and killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals.

Israel and its friends stopped most of the missiles and drones from reaching their targets. A 7-year-old girl got hurt in the attack, but no one died or got seriously hurt, and there wasn’t much damage.

Israel and Iran have been fighting each other secretly for a long time, but the attack this weekend was the first time Iran directly attacked Israel with its military.

With tensions rising, Israel’s friends have emphasized the need for calm and control. David Cameron from Britain and Annalena Baerbock from Germany both asked for people to stay calm during their visits to the area.

Cameron thinks Israel is planning to do something against Iran. He wants them to be careful and not make the situation worse. He said this after talking to Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who doesn’t have much power.

Baerbock said Germany supports Israel, but wants them to be careful.

“Everyone needs to be careful and make wise choices now. ” I’m not saying to surrender. She said being careful and controlling yourself is actually a sign of being strong. Israel proved that it is strong by winning a defensive battle last weekend.

The leaders said they want to impose more punishments on Iran from other countries.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi told Israel not to attack. He spoke at a military parade that was moved to a different location and wasn’t shown on TV. They did this because they were worried it might be attacked.

In comments reported by Iran’s official IRNA news agency, Raisi said the attack over the weekend was small. He also said that if Iran had wanted to do a bigger attack, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed.

Tensions between different regions have increased a lot since October. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two groups from Palestine that are supported by Iran, launched an attack on southern Israel. The attack caused the death of about 1,200 Israelis, and the militants held about 250 people as hostages. Israel fought back with a very strong military attack that caused a lot of destruction and death. Around 34,000 Palestinians were killed, most of them being women and children. Gaza health officials don’t differentiate between soldiers and civilians in their count.

Israel took most of its soldiers out of Gaza after big attacks that destroyed two of its largest cities, Gaza City and Khan Younis. Israeli leaders say the fighting is not finished and they will send soldiers into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where many people have taken shelter from the violence.

Hamas has about 130 hostages and some of them may have died. The attempts to make peace and free the hostages have not made much progress.

Hezbollah, a friend of Iran, has been shooting at Israel almost every day since the war started. This could lead to a big war. Groups supported by Iran in Iraq and Syria have attacked, and rebels backed by Iran in Yemen have targeted ships in the Red Sea, claiming to block Israel.