Hebrew → English transcript

People ask me what we did in the north, and my answer is, we achieved

tremendous gains. We had two threats from Lebanon,

a near threat and a distant threat.

The near threat was the infiltration of thousands

of terrorists into our territory and anti- tank fire at our communities.

And the distant threat, which Nasrallah built over the course of years,

was the firing of 150 thousand missiles and rockets intended

to destroy the cities of Israel.

We removed both of these threats.

Now look at what we did.

For the first time,

we created a long security zone along

the entire northern border. Not only in Lebanon, not only here at Rosh

Hanikra, you see,

this is the northern border, not only here.

Along the entire Lebanese border up to Mount Hermon,

through the Golan Heights and down to the Yarmouk. They wanted to surround

us with a ring of fire, we created a ring of security.

This strip completely removes the near threat of invasion and anti- tank fire,

and the IDF is sitting there on the yellow line in order to continue to

defend against

the near threat.

And regarding the distant threat, we destroyed

close to 90% of the missile and rocket stockpiles that Nasrallah built.

We eliminated Nasrallah himself, We stunned them with beepers,

we eliminated thousands of terrorists.

Today’s Hezbollah is a shadow of itself compared to the days of glory of Nasrallah.

But I say honestly,

we still have not finished the job. There are things we are

planning to do against the remaining rocket threat and against the drone threat,

and I will not elaborate.

But we also have another objective,

and that is the dismantling of Hezbollah. And so I tell you

again honestly, this will not be achieved tomorrow.

It requires sustained effort, it requires patience, it requires endurance,

and it requires prudent navigation in the diplomatic arena.

At the request of my friend, President Trump,

with whom we changed the face of the Middle East and achieved tremendous gains,

we agreed to a temporary cease- fire in Lebanon.

At his request, we will give an opportunity to advance a combined political and

military solution with the government of Lebanon. And I remind you,

for the first time in forty- three years,

representatives of the State of Israel are speaking directly with representatives

of the State of Lebanon. The road to peace is still long, but we have begun it.

One of our hands holds a weapon, our other hand is extended for peace.

One way or another,

We will restore security for the residents of the north, and with God's help,

we will act and succeed.