Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night extended an olive branch and delivered a message of hope to the Iranian people.
Below is the transcript of the video message:
“People of Iran:
As we see history unfold before our very eyes, I can only imagine what you’re feeling right now.
Your oppressors spent over $30 billion supporting Assad in Syria.
Today, after only 11 days of fighting, his regime collapsed into dust.
Your oppressors spent billions supporting Hamas in Gaza.
Today their regime lies in ruins.
Your oppressors spent over $20 billion supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In a matter of weeks, most of Hezbollah’s leaders, its rockets and thousands of its terrorists went up in smoke.
The money your oppressors stole from you literally went up in smoke.
You must be furious imagining the new roads, schools, hospitals that could have been built with the tens of billions of dollars your dictators wasted backing terrorists who lose over and over and over again.
Do you know why Iran’s oppressors keep losing?
It’s not only because they are incompetent and cruel. They are.
It’s because they seek to conquer other nations, to impose fundamentalist tyranny on the Middle East—on the entire world.
The only thing Israel seeks is to defend our state. But in so doing, we’re defending civilization against barbarism.
….
The historic events we witness today are a chain reaction—a chain reaction to the pounding of Hamas, the decimation of Hezbollah, the targeting of Nasrallah, the blows we delivered to the Iran regime’s axis of terror. And all this came as President Trump pointed out this week, ‘because of Israel and its fighting success.’
I want to make clear: Israel wants peace. We want peace with all those who truly want peace with us.
And I have no doubt that you, the people of Iran, know this.
I know that just as we want peace with you, you want peace with us.
But you suffer under the rule of a regime that subjugates you and threatens us.
You know what this regime is truly terrified of?
It’s terrified of you, the people of Iran.
And one day, I know that. One day this will change. One day Iran will be free.
Women, Life, Freedom
Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.
That is the future of Iran.
That is the future of peace.
And I have no doubt that we will realize that future together—a lot sooner than people think.
I know and I believe we will transform the Middle East into a beacon of prosperity, progress and peace.”