🔶 Israeli minister: We have no interest in involving ourselves in the Iran–U.S. conflict

Finance Minister of Israel Bezalel Smotrich, in remarks on Tuesday, 30 Tir (21 July), said that Israel has “no interest” in being drawn into the current dispute between Iran and the United States. Several Israeli media outlets reported that this far-right minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet said at a conference: “The current situation is favorable for us, and we have no interest in getting involved in it.”

Smotrich added that Israel’s main goal is “weakening Iran’s leadership,” and that the best way to achieve this goal is through economic measures.

The remarks were made while a senior Israeli official had told Channel 12 three days earlier that the country is preparing to join a broader U.S. military campaign against the Islamic Republic. The official stated that the assessment of Israel’s security institutions is that the likelihood of escalation of hostilities in the near future has increased significantly.