Netanyahu voices hope for peace with Iran, build 'trillion-dollar economy' amid anti‑regime riots - Yehuda Shlezinger

 

​ by Yehuda Shlezinger

“I hope that one day there will be peace with Iran, and that we will be able to return to establishing regional peace,” Netanyahu said.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed by prosecution on Case 4000. Jerusalem, January 5

(photo credit: Mark Israel Salem)

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he hopes Israel will one day achieve peace with Iran, speaking during a cabinet meeting amid widespread anti-regime protests in the Islamic Republic.

“I hope that one day there will be peace with Iran, and that we will be able to return to establishing regional peace,” Netanyahu said.

He also referred to an interview he gave to The Economist over the weekend, in which he said that Israel intends to gradually reduce the $3.8 billion it receives annually in US military aid, with the aim of ending the assistance entirely within the next decade.

“I expect that within a decade we will reach a trillion-dollar economy,” Netanyahu said. “The freer the economy is, and the more it is released from bureaucratic constraints, this will make it possible to increase investment in Israel’s defense programs by an additional approximately NIS 350 billion within a decade. Just as I reduced dependence on economic aid from the United States, so too I want to reduce security assistance within a decade.”

Netanyahu said that Israel has reached a stage of “economic and security maturity” that allows it to become more self-reliant.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a 40 signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on January 5, 2026. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

“We receive military aid on a large scale and appreciate it very much,” he said. “During my visit with President Trump, I told him that we deeply appreciate the assistance given to us over the years, but here too we have matured and developed enormous capabilities.”

Netanyahu emphasizes the funding strategy is apolitical 

He emphasized that the planned change in funding strategy is not political.

“That does not mean that I am not fighting for the support and loyalty of the American people – on the contrary,” Netanyahu said. “You would have to be crazy not to do that.”

When asked whether the ultimate goal is to reduce the aid to zero, he responded: “Yes. It is a dramatic change, and it is already underway.”

Yehuda Shlezinger

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/benjamin-netanyahu/article-882975

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