Israel’s Ambassador to the US says Israel will ‘respond’ to Iran attacks

The Israeli ambassador to the US said on Wednesday that Israel must respond to Iranian attacks on the country, ignoring warnings from American leaders and other allies fearful of a regional war between the two powers.

Iran launched more than 300 munitions at Israel on Saturday night in response to an Israeli attack that killed Iranian military leaders earlier this month. Almost all of the munitions were intercepted by American, Jordanian and Israeli defenses before reaching their targets, and the country suffered minimal damage and no deaths in the attacks.

“This cannot just go away. It cannot go unanswered,” Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog said in a Fox News interview with Bret Baier on Wednesday. “Because if we don’t respond, the Iranians will feel unpunished and feel like they can attack anywhere in the Middle East or elsewhere without any consequences.”

“We have to respond and we will respond. How exactly we do this remains to be seen. I don’t want to discuss any details,” he continued.

Herzog redoubled calls for retaliation and also urged the country’s allies to approve stricter sanctions against Iran.

“In our part of the world, defense is not enough to create deterrence. We need to retreat,” he said. “And the main message, the main lesson from what happened the other day when Iran attacked us, is that we all have to increase deterrence against Iran.”

“If we do not react against Iran, in a matter of a few years, we could see nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles,” he added.

Israel’s allies, including the Biden administration and the British and German governments, have warned the country against responding to the attacks on Iran, fearing a regional war in the Middle East. The Iranian government committed to a major conflict if Israel retaliated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed those concerns on Wednesday.

“I want to be clear: we will make our decisions ourselves. The State of Israel will do whatever is necessary to defend itself,” he said.

In an interview on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary and former Prime Minister David Cameron expressed his support for Israel but called for calm.

“The situation is very worrying. It is right to show solidarity with Israel. It is right that we have made clear our views on what should happen next,” Cameron said during a visit to Israel, according to the Foreign Office.

“But it is clear that the Israelis are making the decision to act. We hope they do so in a way that contributes as little as possible to worsening the situation,” she added.