Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu used a special Knesset session Monday evening to deliver a stern warning to Iran’s leadership, declaring that any direct attack on Israel would trigger a response beyond anything Tehran could anticipate.
Speaking during a plenary debate convened by the opposition with 40 signatures, Netanyahu said Israel has made its position unmistakably clear to the Iranian regime.
“I have clarified and sent a message to the Ayatollah regime that if they make perhaps the gravest mistake in their history and attack the State of Israel, we will respond with force they cannot even imagine,” Netanyahu declared.
The prime minister stressed that the country is facing a volatile and sensitive period and urged unity rather than political infighting. He said Israel stands ready for any development and called on the public and political leadership to rally together, particularly as the holiday of Purim approaches.
He added, “We are in complex times, we are prepared for any scenario. This is not the time for debate. In those days, on the eve of Purim, as in this time, we need to close the ranks of the people and stand shoulder to shoulder. I am confident in our strength and in our warriors. When we stand together – we achieve great things. On the eve of Purim, we will stand together – and with God’s help we will ensure the eternity of Israel.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded by addressing the prospect of a military confrontation with Iran, signaling that despite deep political divisions, he would support decisive action if necessary.
“There is a good chance that we are facing a campaign in Iran. If this campaign comes – and it must come – we will all put everything aside. All differences of opinion will be put into deep freeze, until the crisis passes. As in the past, I will mobilize for Israel’s PR and strengthen Israel’s international status. As with the previous attack, I will go wherever necessary, from CNN to the British Parliament, and tell them: ‘You know that I am the leader of the opposition, you know that Netanyahu and I are rivals, but Iran must be attacked with all force, the rule of the ayatollahs must be overthrown.'”
However, Lapid also delivered a pointed rebuke to Netanyahu over the October 7 massacre, arguing that the events of that day would ultimately define the prime minister’s legacy.
“What will define you in history is October 7th. I understand the attempt to write a different history – it won’t work, it doesn’t work that way.” He continued: “No success, no failure, will resonate in the national memory like the October 7th massacre. Let’s be clear – the word is massacre.”
Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman likewise directed sharp criticism at Netanyahu, branding him the “Prime Minister of October 7” and holding him personally responsible for the Hamas attack.
“This was a massacre on your watch,” Lieberman lashed out. “This is the most terrible massacre in the history of the state, and you are the main culprit in it.”
Lieberman also referenced Netanyahu’s written response to the state comptroller, contending that it omitted crucial decisions made years earlier. He pointed specifically to a 2014 cabinet meeting in which he says he urged decisive military action against Hamas.
“You wrote a 50-page answer, but you forgot about the cabinet meeting on November 13, 2014,” Lieberman recalled. “At that meeting, I demanded to begin a large-scale operation to eradicate Hamas, and you decided on a ceasefire over my head, and proposed a policy of arrangement and transferring money from Qatar to Hamas.”
He went on to cite his resignation as defense minister in 2018, which he said stemmed from similar disagreements over policy toward Hamas.
“On November 14, I resigned from my position and said that a ceasefire with Hamas is surrender to terrorism. I tried dozens of times to reach that protocol, and I was prevented from reaching it, but don’t worry – we will get there.”
Lieberman concluded by questioning the government’s handling of the current war effort and challenging its claims of success.
“What is happening now, where is the complete victory? Why is there reconstruction of the Gaza Strip? Why is the State of Israel providing electricity, water, fuel and trucks every week?”
{Matzav.com}
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Lieberman directly accused Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of bearing primary responsibility for the October 7 massacre, describing him as “the main guilty party in [the October 7] massacre” and asserting that it was “the largest and most terrible massacre in the history of the Jewish people after the Holocaust.”
Lieberman delivered the remarks during a “40-signatures” debate in the Knesset plenum, a monthly parliamentary procedure that allows lawmakers to require the prime minister to appear and respond after collecting the necessary number of supporting signatures on a petition.
In his address, Lieberman criticized a 55-page document Netanyahu recently published outlining his responses to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman as part of the comptroller’s now-suspended probe into the October 7 attack. Lieberman argued that the document left out key details, including a November 2018 cabinet meeting at which, he said, he had “demanded to begin a large-scale operation to eradicate the Hamas regime.”
According to Lieberman, Netanyahu omitted the episode from his testimony because “you want to escape from responsibility and rewrite history.”
Rather than pursuing decisive action at the time, Lieberman charged, Netanyahu chose to facilitate the transfer of Qatari funds to Hamas in an effort to maintain calm. He further claimed that in the period leading up to the assault, Netanyahu had sought “to increase the money that is transferred every month to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”
Continuing his criticism, Lieberman said, “You created a zone of immunity for terrorists when you pledged never to attack Qatar again. Thanks to you, the Qataris won a defense agreement from the United States that no country in the world has.” He concluded with a pointed rebuke: “Where is the total victory? You promised us total victory, you brought total disgrace.”
{Matzav.com}A federal judge in Florida has ruled that the second volume of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report examining Donald Trump’s handling of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago will remain sealed and not be made public.
In a decision issued Monday, US District Judge Aileen Cannon determined that the portion of Smith’s report dealing with the classified documents investigation cannot be released. Cannon had previously dismissed the criminal case Smith filed against Trump prior to his return to office, and her latest ruling represents another legal victory for Trump in preventing the public disclosure of the special counsel’s conclusions.
Before departing his role in early 2025, Smith submitted a two-part final report to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. The first volume, which focused on Trump’s alleged attempts to challenge the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, was made public before Trump reentered the White House. However, the second volume — addressing the classified documents case in South Florida — remained under seal following legal challenges brought by Trump and others charged in the matter.
In her 15-page opinion, Cannon wrote that “it is certainly not customary” for a prosecutor whose case was thrown out to later be allowed to “publicly disseminate large swaths of discovery generated in the case.”
She further stated, “The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt, at least not in a situation like this one, where the defendants contested the charges from the outset and still proclaim their innocence.”
Cannon, who ruled in 2024 that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful, criticized the preparation of the report itself, asserting that it ran counter to her prior orders ending the work of his office in connection with the classified documents investigation.
“The Court need not countenance this brazen stratagem or effectively perpetuate the Special Counsel’s breach of this Court’s own order,” she wrote.
At the same time, Cannon rejected a motion from two former co-defendants of Trump seeking to have the report destroyed altogether.
In response to the ruling, Trump’s personal attorney, Kendra Wharton, praised the decision, saying Cannon was correct to “permanently prohibit the release of Volume II of Jack Smith’s illegal report,” and adding that “all fruit of Smith’s poisonous tree should be treated accordingly and should never see the light of day.”
Despite the ruling, the question of public access to the second volume — often referred to as Volume II — remains the subject of ongoing appellate proceedings initiated by government transparency advocates.
One such organization, American Oversight, criticized Cannon’s decision, saying it “continues a troubling pattern of decisions that shield the president from public scrutiny and place secrecy above the public’s right to know.”
“American taxpayers funded this investigation, and they have a right to know what their government uncovered, particularly on matters of national security,” said Chioma Chukwu, the group’s executive director, in a statement.2
{Matzav.com}American military refueling and transport aircraft were seen at Ben Gurion Airport as Washington expanded its force posture across the Middle East during heightened tensions with Iran, Times of Israel reports.
The refuelers and cargo planes touched down at Israel’s primary international airport within the past 24 hours, according to flight activity observed in the area.
Israeli officials did not issue any statement regarding the presence of US military aircraft at the civilian airport. It remained unclear whether the planes were stationed there for an extended period or were making a brief stop as part of broader regional operations.
Data compiled by the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a group of roughly 30 open-source researchers who monitor military and government aviation movements, indicated that since mid-February more than 85 aerial refueling tankers and upwards of 170 cargo aircraft had entered the region. The influx came as US President Donald Trump weighed potential military steps concerning Iran.
{Matzav.com}
