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And in honor of the President being at the 500:
US Political News and Trump’s China visit
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Netanyahu vows to ‘finish the job’ against Iran with support from Trump
By Eugenia Yosef, Ibrahim Dahman, Irene Nasser, Jennifer Hansler and Mostafa Salem, 2/17/2025Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to “finish the job” against Iran with the support of US President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu was speaking alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is visiting Israel in his first official trip to the region since assuming the role.
“Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis. Under the strong leadership of President Trump… I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job,” Netanyahu said.
Rubio said that there “could never be a nuclear Iran.”
“It’s important to constantly point that whether we talk about Hamas or we talk about Hezbollah, we talk about violence in the West Bank, or we talk about destabilization in Syria, or we talk about any of these issues the militias in Iraq, they all have behind them one common theme – Iran,” Rubio added.
“That must be addressed,” he added.
US intelligence agencies recently warned both the Biden and Trump administrations that Israel will likely attempt to strike facilities key to Iran’s nuclear program this year, according to sources familiar with the assessments.
Israel’s willingness to use military force runs counter to President Donald Trump’s current desire for a peace deal with Tehran, and the recent US intelligence cautions that major strikes on Iranian nuclear sites could increase the risk of a wider war breaking out in the Middle East.
Overall, Israel is also still pursuing the broader goal of causing regime change in Iran, one of the recent US intelligence reports says.
The Israeli leader said he has a common strategy with Trump on Gaza and its future, vowing to open the “gates of hell” if all hostages are not released.
Trump this month proposed the US “take over” Gaza and displace Palestinians out of the devastated strip permanently, triggering a storm of protest.
“It may have shocked and surprised many,” Rubio said in reference to the plan, “but what cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place.”
Netanyahu said on Sunday he knew about the plan before the US president announced it.
“This didn’t come as a surprise, we knew about it and discussed it beforehand,” the Israeli prime minister said.
Speaking to leaders of American Jewish organizations, Netanyahu said the plan was “the only viable plan to enable a different future for the people of Gaza, for Israel, and for the region.”
Heavy bombs shipment
Rubio’s trip coincided with the US sending a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel. The munitions were sent after Trump’s administration last month lifted a hold on the deliveries, Israel’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday.Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz said the shipment of MK-84 munitions “represents a significant asset for the Air Force and the IDF and serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States,” in a statement from his ministry. Katz thanked Trump and the US administration for their “unwavering support.”
The new administration’s release of the heavy bomb shipments rolled back one of the few Biden-era policies meant to exert leverage on Israel during its war in Gaza. Former President Joe Biden had restricted the delivery of the 2,000-pound bombs out of concern they could be used indiscriminately by Israel’s military in densely populated areas of Gaza. Read more
