Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen in Jerusalem. During the meeting, the Israeli Prime Minister reiterated the importance of Israel which serves as a “great fortress” in the battle against militant Islam. In his words, “Here in the Middle East we face the two forces, the great forces, of militant Islam, the militant Sunnis lead by Daesh and the militant Shiites lead by Iran and it’s proxies. We are committed to blocking their advance, and so doing we (are) defending not only ourselves, but in many ways defending Europe. Israel is the great fortress, here at the edge of Asia, at the edge of the Mediterranean, that is preventing the forces of militant Islam from sweeping the region and sending millions and millions and millions of people into homeless wandering throughout the continents – especially the continent of Europe. The best way to deal with this, is to deal with it here (Israel). To defeat these forces here (Israel). And Israel is doing more than its fair share in that regard.”
The Israeli leader also pointed to the ongoing challenge posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which openly calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state. Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to prevent the Ayatollah regime from obtaining nuclear weapons, as well as its efforts to thwart the Islamic Republic’s aspiration to entrench itself militarily in Syria. To assure the freedom of fulfilling Israel’s military objectives in Syria uninterrupted, the Prime Minister announced a scheduled trip to Moscow, in which he will hold discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Netanyahu, “I’ll be going on February 21st again to Russia, following my discussions with President Putin in Paris a few months ago and subsequent phone conversations. It is very important that we continue to prevent Iran from entrenching in Syria, and in many ways we’ve blocked that in advance, but we are committed to continuously blocking it, continuously preventing Iran from creating another war front against us right here opposite the Golan Heights. This is one of the subjects, the main subjects, that I will be discussing with President Putin.”