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Barak Attacks Cautious Israeli and U.S. Security Establishment

Under growing pressure from the cautious Israeli and U.S. security establishment not to launch a strike against Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has now come out publicly defending his and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's determination, as puppets of western imperialism, to attack Iran.


For Barak, the last straw was this week's interview in {Ha'aretz} with Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Gen. Benny Gantz, who expressed the same caution about an attack on Iran as other Israeli security figures, such as former Mossad chief Meir Dagan. 


Gantz had echoed US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dempsey in saying that the Iranians were "rational," and that the pressure of sanctions and threats of military action could convince them not to develop nuclear weapons.

Speaking at an Independence Day (April 26) reception, Barak attacked Gantz, saying that it is Israel's political echelon which will make the all the decisions on how to deal with Iran, and that it is the military's responsibility to carry out government policy.


Barak made Netanyahu-style arguments, stating, "A nuclear Iran will awaken a race toward nuclear armament in the region.


Saudi Arabia, Turkey and even the new Egypt will be resigned to join the race, and the countdown to the leaking of information and technology to terror organizations will begin.... However, should the Ayatollah regime obtain a nuclear weapon, it will be a long-term challenge, more challenging and more costly in terms of life and financial resources."

In effect denouncing the idea of sanctions, Barak said, "Today's sanctions are harsher than in the past, but the truth should be stated: The chances that such pressure will cause Iran to answer to international demands to halt its program permanently seem low. But that is my best assessment, and it is based on years of tracking Iranian maneuvering and on historical precedents of North Korea and Pakistan."  


Barak added, "The worry of the Iranian leadership is that the international allied supervision will lead to an American, Israeli or international military operation, which restrains them from taking such a step and causes them to focus on deepening their immunity as a response to the possibility of an attack. 


We have no reason to believe that immunity will change the mind of the leadership or prevent it from moving toward a nuclear weapon."


Attacking the idea that Iran is rational as Gantz had claimed, Barak said, "The fact that we are talking about clever and calculating people, who seek to stay in power, and are striving to reach their goals underhandedly and with an idea of the moves and intentions of their rivals, does not make them rational in the Western sense of the word; in other words, a status quo and peaceful solution to the issue. This is not descriptive of the Iranian regime."


In what is clearly an attack on the security establishment in both the U.S. and Israel who oppose a strike on Iran, Barak said, 


"There are certain differences between us in terms of attitude, whose origins lay in clocks that tick at different speeds. That of Israel, whose capabilities are far more limited, ticks faster than that of the United States. However, even the American government understands that Israel should be able to defend itself with its own strength, and that on topics regarding the basis of the security and future of Israel, and in a certain sense the Jewish people as a whole, Israel and its government alone must come to a decision and take responsibility. 


The IDF, like the U.S. military, is responsible for building operational capabilities. The political echelon, both here and in Washington, is responsible for taking all things into consideration."