Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel needs to be “free” from military dependence on the United States and develop its own weapons-production capabilities, adding that this is needed to support the ongoing fight with Iran and its proxies.

Axar.az reports, citing The Times of Israel, speaking during a meeting with reserve combat officers in the West Bank’s Gush Etzion, Netanyahu said: “I greatly appreciate the support we have received — and that I have secured over the years — from our American friends. But today I say: We need our own independent weapons-production system. We must manufacture our own armaments."