Netanyahu, Liberman Warn Iran, Hamas At Air Force Graduation Ceremony

Jerusalem, 27 December, 2017 (TPS) -- “We will not allow Iranian military forces to establish bases in Syria to attack us and we will act to prevent the manufacture of precise and deadly weapons aimed at us,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday as he addressed graduates of the Israel Air Force’s flight academy course at the Hatzerim Air Base in the Negev.

Describing Israel as an “island in a very stormy sea,” Netanyahu also issued a warning to Hamas in the South.

“We will neither allow nor tolerate any escalation on the part of Hamas or any other terrorist element against the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.  “We will use all means to defend our sovereignty and the security of Israeli citizens,” the prime minister added.  

Netanyahu said that Israel frequently outpaces the world in identifying and meeting new challenges, Iron Dome against rocket fire and was doing so again in technological solutions to the threat of cross border tunnels from Gaza. “We are justly proud of our technology,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel was also leading the world in developing advanced technologies against the threat of UAVs.  

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gadi Eisenkot and IAF Commander Major-General Amikam Norkin also attended the ceremony marking the completion of the course by thirty six new pilots, including one woman,

Lieberman noted that the ceremony was taking 35 years after the First Lebanon War in which air force pilots destroyed a Syrian surface-to-air missile array within a few hours and downed over 80 enemy aircraft. Liberman warned Syria, Hezbollah and Iran that Israel’s air power had grown exponentially. “The Israel Air Force is one of the most advanced air forces in the world. If war breaks out again in the North, the results will be even more impressive.

Addressing the cadets, Air Force Commander Norkin, said that they like the pilots in service now would have to operate far from home behind enemy lines.

“Your friends are flying the planes that have been striking in the Middle East in recent months showing daring and creativity,”  he said. “It will not be long before you too have to operate across enemy lines and I know that I can count on you.