Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the government meeting on Sunday regarding developments in the Sde Teiman affair following the Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi's admission to leaking the video and her resignation. "The incident at Sde Teiman caused enormous image damage to the State of Israel and the IDF, perhaps the most severe hasbara attack since the establishment of the state. This requires an independent and impartial investigation," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu moved on to discuss the battle against the Iranian axis. "The Iranian axis has suffered a tremendous blow, in many places, we have broken it. Our effort is to deny it the ability to rehabilitate, and that's what we're doing on the various fronts," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu addressed Hamas' violations of the agreement. "Hamas' attempts are pathetic, to try to lead us astray, the US and the world. They, of course, will not succeed, and we will gradually return all our hostages. We are committed to this," Netanyahu said.
"My instruction is unequivocal. If there is an attempt to harm our forces, we strike those who attack and also their organization. We report to our American friends, we don't ask their permission. We maintain the highest security responsibility and will not compromise on this. Disarming Hamas, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip – this is the principle we advocate, this is the principle agreed upon between me and President Trump. Of course, if this is not done one way, it will be done another way," Netanyahu said.
Regarding the Lebanon front, Netanyahu said, "Hezbollah is indeed taking hits all the time, but it is also trying to rearm and recover. We expect the Lebanese government to do what it committed to do, namely, to disarm Hezbollah, but we will exercise our right to self-defense. We will not allow Lebanon to become a renewed front against us."
Netanyahu warned about the Houthi threat. "The Houthis seem like some negligible harassment. It seems like a small thing. It's not a small thing; it's a very big threat from a movement that is fanatical in the most extreme way imaginable, that has independent ballistic missile production capability, and is committed to 'the program to destroy Israel.' We will do whatever is necessary to eliminate this threat as well," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu announced the government's decision to invest 360 million shekels ($101.52 million) in building a new fortified hospitalization tower at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. In total, the investment will amount to over 1 billion shekels ($282 million) – one-third from the Government, one-third from Clalit Health Services, and one-third from donor Silvan Adams.
"Silvan is a great donor to the State of Israel and does this with great generosity and from the heart. You raise Israel's stature in various fields. I want to thank you on my behalf, on behalf of the government of Israel, and on behalf of the citizens of Israel, and certainly on behalf of the residents of the Negev," the prime minister said.
