Just a week ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was urging Israelis to take a break. He said citizens should ‘go for a walk in our beautiful country’ during the Sukkot holiday. He posed for photographs with his wife Sara in the Golan Heights, the two of them smiling as the sun set.
Tonight, he prepared citizens for an immense retaliation campaign against Israel’s foes.
He said that the air strikes seen so far against Gaza are ‘just the beginning’, and that ‘what we will do to our enemies in the next few days will echo for generations.’
Earlier today, his defence minister ordered a ‘complete siege’ of the Gaza strip, cutting two million people off from the supply of electricity, food, water and fuel. Israel has mobilised 300,000 military reservists, roughly the same number that Russia did when it invaded Ukraine (Israel’s population is 9 million; Russia’s is 143 million).
The opening of a second front between Israel and Hezbollah looks probable.
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