Israel Katz: "I came to ensure that Iran will not succeed in sending a branch to the eastern front"

Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the eastern front today (Wednesday), together with the Director General of the Ministry of Defense, Major General (Res.) Eyal Zamir, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Amir Baram, the Commander of the Central Command, Major General Avi Blot, the Military Secretary to the Prime Minister, Major General Roman Gofman, and the Commander of the Eastern Division, Brigadier General Oren Simcha.

During the visit, the minister conducted a tour of the border area, received an operational and intelligence briefing, and held a situational assessment with the commanders on the ground.

And thus he stated: "Khamenei, the leader of Iran, today blamed Israel for bringing about the fall of Assad in Syria." He should blame himself for taking hundreds of billions of dollars from the Iranian people's money and investing them in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza to build the tentacles of the octopus that he stands at the head of, in an attempt to defeat the State of Israel.

We acted and destroyed the octopus's arm in Gaza, severely hit the octopus's arm in Lebanon, and now the big octopus's arm in Syria has collapsed after Assad's fall, and all the investment has gone to waste. The Iranian people must hold the dictator accountable and send him home.

I came here today to ensure that Iran does not succeed in building the octopus arm it is planning and working to establish here in order to create an eastern front against the State of Israel. We see all the attempts to smuggle weapons, finance, and promote terrorism through Jordan into the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria in order to create terror and threaten the State of Israel.

I instructed the IDF to increase offensive operations against any terrorist activity and to ensure the protection and safety of the settlements. I came here to ensure and expedite the construction of the fence along the Israel-Jordan border in order to guarantee security and protection for the settlements and the citizens of the State of Israel. We will build the fence quickly. And we will ensure protection and prevent the growth of an octopus arm here in this place – even before it rises, in order to strengthen our security and control over this territory.