Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Syrian regime is
carrying out a massacre of civilians especially of children and the
elderly. He added that the Syrian government were not the only ones to
carry out the massacre but that Iran and Hezbollah were aiding in
their efforts as well. Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz accused Syrian
President Bashar Assad of committing genocide during his crackdown on
a 15-month uprising. Mofaz also criticized Russia for arming Damascus
and repeated Israel's demand for international military intervention
to topple Assad, akin to last year's campaign in Libya. Israel has
until recently been slow to call for Assad's fall, wary of worsening
the turmoil in Syria - the two countries are enemies but have been in
a mostly stable stand-off for decades. With hourly media reports in
Israel of Syrian civilian deaths, public anger has been growing and
Israeli officials have been stepping up their criticism.