Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences over the death of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh in a tweet on Thursday, calling him “a great friend of Israel.”
“He was a great friend of Israel and he stood by us through thick and thin, always firm, never wavering. We shall miss him dearly,” Netanyahu said.
Limbaugh viewed Israel as the U.S.’ strongest ally in the fight against terrorism. Following the 9/11 attacks, Limbaugh called on the the George W. Bush administration to give Israel carte blanche to destroy its enemies.
“Bush is right about ‘defeating’ the Taliban, al Qaeda and other terrorist networks,” Limbaugh wrote at the time. “It is, therefore, necessary that in the pursuit of real and lasting peace, Israel also be free to destroy its enemies — meaning the terrorists and, yes, their sponsors, who are at war with her, and that she do so before they obtain devastating weapons of mass destruction.”
Limbaugh died at the age of 70 Wednesday of lung cancer.
The only way some form of quiet will ever exist in the Middle East is if Israel is given the latitude to totally defeat its declared enemies. Only then will the terrorist attacks on Israel’s civilians come to an end. Perpetual negotiations, diplomatic half measures, or land for peace deals will not bring peace to the Middle East.
Limbaugh told biographer Zev Chafets in 2010: “In my heart and soul, I know I have become the intellectual engine of the conservative movement.”
He was eulogized Catholic League president Bill Donohue as a “gift from God.”