In a clear sign that the war against Iran is not really over, Israel Katz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s madman defense minister, promised in interviews on the night of June 26, that Israel will treat Iran as it has treated Lebanon since last November’s ceasefire there. The IDF maintains a regime of violence in southern Lebanon, occupying slivers of territory and preventing civilians from returning to their village while occasionally striking targets further north in actions it says are aimed at enforcing the ceasefire with Hezbollah while failing to abide by it itself.
Katz told the news outlets that Israel maintained aerial superiority over Iran and was poised to strike again. “We won’t let Iran develop nuclear weapons and threatening long-range missiles,” he told Channel 12, reported the Times of Israel. To Channel 13, Defense Minister Katz said: “The main point is that the policy of the State of Israel and the government of Israel is to implement enforcement actions against Iran.”
He said the policy would be “like in Lebanon”—where Israel has targeted Hezbollah’s attempts to rearm—"just times 100.”
As for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Katz claimed that the only reason Israel didn’t kill him was because he couldn’t be located. “If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” Katz told Channel 13, adding that Israel “searched a lot” for Khamenei but that the operational opportunity did not arise. Katz said in the interviews that the Iranian leader had been marked for death, but that Israel was unable to locate him once he hid in a bunker: “Khamenei understood this, went very deep underground, broke off contact with the commanders … so in the end it wasn’t realistic,” Katz told Kan.
