Posted on 01/21/2006 2:58:56 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz fired off a warning to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Saturday night saying that Israel would not accept a nuclear Iran under any circumstance and is preparing for the possibility that diplomacy to stop Tehran's nuclear aspirations would fail.
"Thwarting Iran's nuclear aspirations will for now be done by passing this hot potato to the [United Nations] Security Council," Mofaz said in his speech at the sixth annual Herziliya Conference session on the balance of Israel's national security. "At the same time however Israel is committed to protecting itself and that is what it plans to do."
Calling out directly to Ahmadinejad, Mofaz said: "I suggest you take a look throughout history and see what happened to others who tried to wipe out the Jewish people. In the end they brought destruction to their own people. I know the people of Iran and they should know that Ahmadinejad's policies will bring a disaster upon them."
Mofaz further accused Iran of financially supporting Palestinian terrorism in the territories. "Money is like fuel for terrorism," the defense minister said. "Iran provides the Hizbullah with $100 million annually some of which reaches Palestinian terror groups. Iran is also the primary supporter for the Islamic Jihad which has carried out most of the suicide bombings in Israel over the past year including the one on Thursday near the old Tel Aviv central bus station."
According to Israeli intelligence, Mofaz said, over the past year alone, Iran sent $10 million to the territories to fund the Islamic Jihad as opposed to $5 million in 2004.
"This combination of a radical regime with long-range missiles and attempts to obtain nuclear power is a threat not just to Israel but to the entire world," Mofaz said.
Moving to the Palestinian front, Mofaz declared that Israel would act independently if the Palestinian Authority failed to meet its obligations according to the US-backed Road Map peace initiative.
"If there will be a legitimate and effective [Palestinian] partner then we will proceed according to the Road Map with the understanding that there are several stages until we reach a final agreement," Mofaz said. "But if we won't find a partner than Israel will need to takes its fates in its own hands."
Israel, the defense minister said, would in any case act to "create defensible borders, to strengthen the settlement blocs as well as a united Jerusalem and its surrounding areas."
Mofaz added that the disengagement from the Gaza Strip granted Israel unprecedented recognition within the international community and the country now had legitimacy to fight terror that it never had in the past.
Turning to Syria, the defense minister said that Bashar Assad had made every possible mistake. "He is an ophthalmologist that can't see far and continues to support terrorism," Mofaz said. "Syria is part of the axis of evil…Israel has an interest in keeping the northern front quiet but if it escalates we will know how to respond."
The world will dither. Israel will strike using limited nuke bunker busters. The world will squeal, but privately the world will be happy Israel acted.
But the technical challenges this time are awesome. Iran is much farther away and they know now how deep they must dig to keep their stuff safe from aerial attack. I wish the Israeli's all the luck in the world (their battle is our battle, or at least should be) but I don't have confidence that they can pull it off.
like an evil parrot , Iran seriously needs to have it's wings clipped....
They know where the Grand Council of Ayatollahs meets. Vaporize that and the rest will disintegrate.
I read once that the saying "Never Again" did not mean that there would no longer be anymore Holocausts or genocide against the Jewish people. The phrase means that the Jews will never again quietly acquiese in their own extermination in the way that they passively allowed the rise of the National Socialists to develop the means to kill the Jews.
The problem is that the modern jidhadists seek their own suicide. I really think that the president of Iran doesn't care that the Isrealis would reduce Iran to rubble following an attack on Israel. The suicidal tendencies of Iran are clear - the annihilation of Israel would also mean the deaths of the Palestinians, too, something that he doesn't seem to mind or care about. "Mutual assured destruction" is only meaningful when both sides want to survive.
It's going to be an interesting few years ahead.
"I suggest you take a look throughout history and see what happened to others who tried to wipe out the Jewish people. In the end they brought destruction to their own people. I know the people of Iran and they should know that Ahmadinejad's policies will bring a disaster upon them."
Deep in the dark recesses of his twisted, diseased mind, Ahmadinejad must know that if he does use this terrible weapon, Iran is finished.
If Iran is bluffing, Israel just called their bluff.
Good. Get on with it then, enough rhetoric already.
Not quite a call, a call would be raining hell down upon Iran's nuclear busy bees.
Does the name Goliath mean anything to Ahmadinejad, I wonder?
There'd probably be dancing in the streets of Tehran and its 22 municipal districts.
That's about right. Israel will save our bacon again and we will, along with the rest of the United Nations castigate her while privately being very grateful.
I don't think Israel is going to do anything. They're as fragmented into the local "Luv Your Muslim" movement as we (the US) are.
Israel has kept up in the technical challenge department.
Israel was politically and ideologically fragmented then she took out Tammuz. Being politically and ideologically fragmented is part of the Judaeic culture.
Very true. And don't forget this little tidbit...
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has authorized the sale of as many as 100 large bunker-buster bombs to Israel. One expert said the move should serve as a warning to Iranians with nuclear ambitions.
The proposed deal, worth as much as $30 million, would provide Israel with the capability to drop 5,000-pound bombs that can penetrate bunkers and other buried structures. The GBU-28 bombs can be dropped from Israel’s American-made F-15 fighters.
“This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that has been, and continues to be, an important force for economic progress in the Middle East,” the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a press release.
When the Israelis start to get along with each other, then be afraid, be very afraid. :)
Maybe not, but then again.......
You think the Israelis will use nukes? I think that will flame the fires of international anti-Semitism if they do.
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