Israel will make its own decisions on how to defend itself, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today, while Western countries called for restraint in response to a series of attacks from Iran.
The United States, European Union and G7 nations have announced plans to consider tougher sanctions on Iran, seen as aimed at appeasing Israel and persuading it to curb its retaliation for Iran’s first direct attacks after a decade of proxy conflict.
Netanyahu met with the German and British foreign ministers, who traveled to Israel as part of a coordinated effort to prevent the conflict between Israel and Iran from escalating into a regional conflict fueled by the Gaza war, Reuters reports.
Netanyahu’s office said he thanked David Cameron and Analena Berbock for their support, telling them he wanted to make it clear that Israel will make its own decisions and will do whatever it takes to defend itself.
Earlier, Cameron said it was now clear Israel was planning to retaliate against Iran’s missile and drone strikes, which Tehran launched on Saturday in response to a suspected Israeli airstrike that killed military officers at the Syrian embassy.
Berbock said the escalation “will serve no one, not the security of Israel, not the many dozens of hostages still in the hands of Hamas, not the people of Gaza, not the many people in Iran who themselves are suffering under the regime, not third countries in the region who simply they want to live in peace.”
