Netanyahu to Blinken: Assassination attempt against me can’t be ignored

Iran and Hezbollah’s assassination attempt cannot be disregarded, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken when the two men met in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

“This is an issue of dramatic significance that cannot be ignored,” Netanyahu said during their meeting which lasted for two and half hours.

There were no joint statements or press conferences before or after the meeting. It was Blinken’s 11th trip to the region since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, 2023. He arrived at a time of heightened military cooperation and tensions between the two governments, with the United States pushing for diplomacy, while Israel has relied heavily on fighting its enemies militarily.

The two men discussed Israel’s expected retaliatory strike against Iran’s ballistic missile attack on the Jewish state on October 1. Israel is also expected to respond to the Hezbollah drone attack on Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea that damaged his bedroom window. Neither he nor his family were home at the time.

The United States, which helped defend Israel against the last two Iranian attacks, is expected to do so again, should Iran respond to any Israeli retaliatory strike.

“The issue of the Iranian threat and the need for both countries to join forces against it was raised,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, adding that Netanyahu thanked Blinken for the US support “in the fight against Iran’s axis of evil and terrorism.”

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the two men “discussed the need to deter further regional aggression from Iran and its proxies,” as well as efforts toward that end which the US and its partners are taking.

Reaffirming the US's commitment to Israel 

Blinken “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” Miller said.

The US has sought to constrain Israel’s response to Iran and its strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, even as it congratulated Jerusalem for its military achievements, including the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in August.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Israelis have to be able to “protect themselves” and “react to” threats.

Still, she said, what Blinken is “doing in the region is important to what we’re trying to do, getting to that de-escalation, but also a long-lasting peace.”

The Secretary of State also spoke of the importance of a “diplomatic resolution” to the year-long violent conflict between the IDF and Hezbollah, Miller said.

This “includes full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and allows civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes,” he said.

He referenced the United Nations Security Council resolution which set the ceasefire terms that ended the Second Lebanon War (2006).

Pushing for ceasefire 

US special envoy Amos Hochstein has been in Lebanon this week to push for a ceasefire, stressing the importance of basing it on Resolution 1701, which bans Hezbollah from the area of southern Lebanon near the Israeli border.

According to a report in the Lebanese news web site Al-Akhbar, Hochstein proposed strengthening and amending UNSC Resolution 1701 to include moving Hezbollah further back away from the border so that it would be several additional kilometers behind the Litani River, as opposed to at the river.

According to Al-Akhbar, he also wants to increase the peacekeeping force and expand the number of Lebanese troops that could be placed in that border area.

Netanyahu, according to his office, spoke of the importance of the IDF’s activity in Lebanon and the need for security and political changes there, which would allow for over 60,000 Israelis to return to their northern border communities which were evacuated last year when Hezbollah launched attacks at the area on October 8, 2023.

The PMO said that “the meeting was friendly and productive” and that “an expanded meeting was held afterward, with the participation of both sides’ professional echelons.”

Israel is unlikely to make a “significant move” against Tehran, but could instead mount a symbolic limited attack, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) cultural and social commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Tuesday, according to the Iranian Student News Network.

Israel is widely thought to be planning retaliation for the Oct. 1 missile barrage.

“Israel is too small to be able to attack Iran, although it may carry out a desperate, limited, and small attack to say it has retaliated, it will definitely not carry out an offensive (strike) similar to ours,” said Jafari, the former commander in chief of the IRGC.

He added that Iran’s response would depend on the intensity of Israel’s retaliation, and that if Israel ended up carrying out a significant attack, Iran would respond with a higher-intensity offensive against Israel.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in his meeting with Blinken, “highlighted the importance of the US standing with Israel following Israel’s attack on Iran. This will strengthen regional deterrence and weaken the ‘axis of evil,” his office said.

He also emphasized to Blinken that “Israel will continue striking the terrorist organization’s infrastructure even once the targeted operations are complete, and that this will continue systematically until it is possible to ensure: the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes, and the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces from southern Lebanon.”

Reuters contributed to this report.