At the beginning of the government meeting this morning (Sunday), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ministers stood for a minute of silence in memory of Netanya Mayor Miriam Feierberg-Eicher, who passed away on Friday.
Netanyahu began by eulogizing her: "We will shorten the government meeting today, so that we can get to the big event in memory of Miriam Feierberg in Netanya. Miriam was a groundbreaking leader. She was mayor of Netanya for almost thirty years. It's unbelievable, but it's unbelievable. Everyone who knew her knows her deep commitment to the city, her enthusiasm, her initiative, and also her ability to stand up to difficulties, including the difficulties that were unfairly placed on her in a legal attack, which I am glad she eventually escaped. But she stood up to it with pride.".
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Netanyahu added: "She was also very committed, as I know, and each of you can also testify, because every conversation with her was: 'What can you do for Netanya? What can we do together for Netanya?' Without exaggeration. I don't remember a single conversation of hers that didn't include - not only didn't include - that wasn't guided by this move. So I ask you to stand for a moment of silence in her memory.".
Netanyahu continued his remarks by addressing the security situation in the north and south. "We continue to strike at terror on several fronts. This weekend the IDF struck in Lebanon, and we will continue to do everything necessary to prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing its threat capacity against us. We are also doing the same in the Gaza Strip.
""Since the ceasefire, Hamas has not stopped violating it, and we are acting accordingly. There have been several attempts by it to penetrate our territory beyond the 'yellow line' and try to harm our soldiers. We thwarted it with great force and also responded and exacted a very heavy price. We eliminated many terrorists, and also terrorists we captured from the tunnels in Rafah.".
He emphasized: "All the talk that 'we must receive approval for this' from one party or another is simply a complete lie. We operate independently of anyone. The immediate actions to thwart the attacks are taken by the IDF automatically. Regarding the responses, it goes through the Minister of Defense and ultimately reaches me, and we decide independently of any party, and that's how it should be. Israel is responsible for its security.".
