‘The time has come,’ says IDF chief of staff, as Israel strikes Iran

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, addressed the nation early on Friday morning and said that “the time has come,” as Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran as part of an operation it has dubbed Rising Lion.

“This is a critical operation to prevent an existential threat by an enemy who is intent on destroying us,” Zamir said.

The military official assured the Israeli people that the Jewish state was acting “as a result of immediate and justified operational needs” and in order “to secure the future safety of the state and its citizens.”

The IDF said earlier in the morning that the military “launched a preemptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence to strike Iran’s nuclear program, and in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing aggression against Israel.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has warned for years of the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran, said that the operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

“We are at the point of no return. We cannot afford to wait for another time to operate. We have no other choice,” Zamier said. “Recent and past events of history have taught us that when the enemy is attempting to destroy us, we must not turn a blind eye.”

“We need to fight for our existence,” he said. “Freedom was given to those willing to fight for it.”

The IDF official said that the operation has been in the works for a long time, describing it as a “historic campaign unlike any other.” He also cautioned that “anyone who will try to challenge us will pay a heavy price.”

Zamir requested that Israeli citizens obey the instructions of the Home Front command, warning that the Islamic Republic would retaliate and the toll would be different from what Israelis have grown to expect.

“Seventy-seven years since the State of Israel was established,” he said, “we stand again for our survival.” He called on Israelis to show “bravery, spirit and unity.”

“Unlike the past, we face an enemy as a nation and regional power, with an army like no other,” he said. “Beyond the technology, operational means and methods, we inhibit an additional unique element—the Zionist and Jewish spirit that beats within us.”

“With this spirit, and faith in our justified path, our actions will speak,” he said.