Israel, US Should Take On Iran Directly, Ex-Israeli Premier

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has called for Israel and the US to confront Iran directly, ‘making it pay’ for sowing chaos through its proxy militias.

In an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal Thursday, Bennett, who was prime minister from June 2021 to June 2022, admitted that Israel was behind attacking an Iranian base and the assassination of a senior IRGC commander in 2022.

Calling on Israel and the US to topple the Iranian regime, he described the Islamic Republic as “the source of endless war, terror and suffering throughout the world.” He called it inexplicable that almost nobody is taking on Tehran, which has been “at the center of most of the Middle East’s problems and much of global terror.”

Israel rarely admits publicly to attacking Iran directly, but Bennett wrote, "After Iran launched two failed UAV attacks on Israel in February 2022, Israel destroyed a UAV base on Iranian soil. In March 2022, Iran’s terror unit attempted to kill Israeli tourists in Turkey and failed. Shortly thereafter, the commander of that very unit was assassinated in the center of Tehran."

Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei, a member of IRGC’ Quds Force, was the deputy commander of Unit 840 and in charge of its operations in the Middle East and countries neighboring Iran.

On December 25, a senior IRGC commander, Razi (Reza) Mousavi, was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria, for which Iranian officials have threatened that Israel would pay a high price.

"The US and Israel must set the clear goal of bringing down Iran’s evil regime. Not only is this possible. It is vital for the safety and security of the Middle East—and the entire civilized world," Bennett concluded in his piece.