Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel had carried out attacks on Iran in 2022. In an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal Bennett said Israel also assassinated a senior Iranian official in one of the attacks.

“After Iran launched two failed UAV attacks on Israel in February 2022, Israel destroyed a UAV base on Iranian soil. In March 2022, Iran’s terror unit attempted to kill Israeli tourists in Turkey and failed. Shortly thereafter, the commander of that very unit was assassinated in the center of Tehran,” Bennett wrote after he outlined his decision to engage directly with Iran and not with its proxies.

In his editorial Bennett said that the world, including Israel itself, have ignored the fact that the Iranian regime was behind the vast majority of regional violence and world-wide terror after it made the strategic decision to train, finance and arm proxies throughout the Middle East to do its bidding and pay the price in blood while Iranians avoid danger.

Bennett said there were numerous ways to counter Iran’s aggression and the West could “empower domestic opposition, ensure internet continuity during riots against the regime, strengthen its enemies, increase sanctions and economic pressures,” but failing to stop the Islamic Republic. “It is vital for the safety and security of the Middle East—and the entire civilized world.”

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