PM ignores political crisis, addresses Syrian missiles at cabinet meeting

Israel will not tolerate missile attacks on its territory and will respond forcefully to any aggression against it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting in relation to two missiles fired from Syria toward Israel on Saturday night.

WATCH: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Full remarks >>https://t.co/wt0GX8ibtK pic.twitter.com/jroAKEl3ob

— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 2, 2019
“Yesterday, two missiles were fired toward Israel from Syrian territory,” Netanyahu said. “One struck inside Syria and the other hit our territory on the Golan Heights. I held security consultations following the attack and I ordered the IDF to take strong action, which it did, striking several targets,” he said.

Netanyahu’s said that this has been Israel’s consistent policy until now, and it is the policy that the government will continue going forward.

This was the first cabinet meeting since the Knesset voted last week to dissolve itself and call for new elections, and Israel will be governed by a transition cabinet – which has been the case since the last elections on April 9 – until a new government is expected to be formed after the upcoming September 17 elections.

Netanyahu, in his opening statement, did not address the country’s unprecedented political crisis.

After the cabinet meeting, however, the PMO announced that Netanyahu had dismissed two ministers from this transition cabinet – Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. They were both also members of the security cabinet.

Netanyahu has not yet named their replacement.