Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opens the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Sunday, July 22, 2012. The Israeli government is asking the country?s Supreme Court to delay the evacuation of an unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost by a month. The court has ordered the Migron outpost dismantled by Aug. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Gali Tbbon, Pool)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opens the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Sunday, July 22, 2012. The Israeli government is asking the country?s Supreme Court to delay the evacuation of an unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost by a month. The court has ordered the Migron outpost dismantled by Aug. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Gali Tbbon, Pool)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement about an attack that killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, in Jerusalem, Thursday, July 19, 2012. A lanky, long-haired man wearing a baseball cap and plaid shorts with a fake Michigan driver's license carried out a deadly suicide attack on a bus full of Israeli vacationers, Bulgarian officials said Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the attack on Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim guerrilla group, and threatened retaliation. Seven people ? five Israelis, the Bulgarian driver and the bomber ? died in the blast Wednesday. (AP Photo/Emil Salman)
Relatives mourn Maor Harush who was killed in a suicide bombing in Bulgaria during his funeral in Acco, Israel, Friday, July 20, 2012. Israeli and American officials are blaming the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for the bombing that killed five Israeli tourists, a Bulgarian bus driver and the bomber in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas, Bulgaria, a popular destination for Israeli tourists. (AP Photo/Ahikam Seri)
Relatives mourn Maor Harush who was killed in a suicide bombing in Bulgaria during his funeral in Acco, Israel, Friday, July 20, 2012. Israeli and American officials are blaming the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for the bombing that killed five Israeli tourists, a Bulgarian bus driver and the bomber in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas, Bulgaria, a popular destination for Israeli tourists. (AP Photo/Ahikam Seri)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH'-hoo) says his government has "fully substantiated intelligence" that Wednesday's attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria was carried out by the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah (hez-BUH'-lah).
Netanyahu tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that Israel "will do whatever is necessary" to protect innocent Israelis and says "there has to be a price exacted" from the terrorists and their backers.
Iran has denied responsibility for the bombing, which killed five vacationing Israelis, along with a Bulgarian bus driver and the attacker.
Netanyahu won't discuss specifics of a response, but the attack threatens to escalate a shadow war between Israeli and Iran over allegations that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes only.
Netanyahu says it's critically important to "make sure that the world's most dangerous regime doesn't get the world's most dangerous weapon."
Associated Press
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