Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the regime in Tehran on Sunday at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, expressing solidarity with the masses who have taken to the streets to protest the ayatollahs' cover-up of the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner last week, which killed scores of Iranians.
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"Iran lied. Just as they lied about their secret nuclear program, they are lying now about the downing of the Ukrainian aircraft," Netanyahu said. "They knew from the start that they had downed it. They knew that it was an unintentional downing, but they lied intentionally. They deceived the entire world."
Iran's admission over the weekend that it had in fact mistook the aircraft as a US cruise missile caused spontaneous demonstrations, with thousands of students chanting anti-regime slogans such as "Death to the dictator" and "Liar, our enemy is here, not in Israel."
According to Iran, the downing of the aircraft on January 8 happened because air defense units were on high alert that night and were anticipating an American strike in retaliation for Iran's volley of missiles on a US base in Iraq.
The commanding officer shot the aircraft without being able to verify its identity. Iran said it was heading toward a secret base and that there were only ten seconds to spare, and that is why the decision was taken so quickly.
"This is completely contrary to how a civilized country should act and we send our condolences to the victims of Iran's deception and negligence," Netanyahu said.
"I note the courage of the Iranian people who are again demonstrating in the streets against this regime. They deserve freedom, liberty and the ability to live in security and peace, all of which the regime denies them.
"I commend President Trump for imposing new and very harsh sanctions against this regime. I must say that this was also done close to the Iranian decision to accelerate uranium enrichment. I call on Britain, France and Germany to join the American effort. They need to go to the Security Council, and there they need to activate the sanctions that have been decided upon. I would like to reiterate: Israel will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons."
