Eye on the Enemy: Striking Iran:’’Israel’s’’ Cry and Fire
"IDF" Spokesman: Test-Firing Long Range Missiles
Yediot Ahronot - Yossi Yehoshua
In a prime week in which the attack on Iran emerged as the core of the public debate, the quartet ministers slammed Thursday the media's preoccupation with this issue saying that it lacks discipline and national responsibility.
However, at the same exact time, the government itself issued a barrage of official data and combating pictures alluding to an overseas attack in preparation.
After condemning the public debate on the possibility of attacking Iran, one minister said that "it is People's right to knowledge, not their right to commit suicide," said the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, "If you intend to cause chaos, there are more effective ways to do that, but chatting about this issue is no more than a waste of time."
Finance Minister, Yuval Steinitz announced that the public debate is "an unprecedented indiscipline since the establishment of the state," and he called for the punishment of those who are giving away the discussions of the government in this regard.
Minister Beni Begin joined other critics and said, "People gossiped and caused "Israel" a substantial damage that's difficult to estimate at the moment."
They Cry and Fire
At the same exact time, the security system in particular has employed its efforts to push the public debate forward.
In the morning, the Air Force Base in "Palmahim" test-fired a ballistic missile - in broad daylight and before the eyes of tens of thousands of area residents who felt scared of the scene of a rocket reaching the heavens.
The missile results were impressive, and it has examined for the first time new elements. "This is an important step in the "Israeli" progress in the field of rocket and space", said a statement released by the Defense Minister, Ehud Barak.
Foreign sources clarified and claimed that this was an examination of a SSM, "Jericho III" that's capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.
According to these publications the missile can travel up to 3000 - 7000 km. Officially, "Israel" never confirmed the acquisition of such missiles, but the test-fire is a clear signal to Iran to show "Israel's" military capabilities - not only by combat aircraft.
The combat aircrafts issue has also stepped up Thursday to the debate of the Iranian issue. After less than three hours of releasing the statement about a missile test in "Palmahim", the "Israeli" army revealed that it has finished, during the last week-end in Sardinia, Italy, a maneuver to three squadrons of Air Force F-16 aircrafts - which focused on attacking long-term objectives, refueling in the air, responding to STGMs and cooperating with other air weapons.
The aircraft squadrons have completed the exercise successfully. "We are obliged to train in places that are not known, and training has given us an excellent starting position," said the Squadron commander, Lt. Col. J. "We are training for long-term scenarios and preparing ourselves for all the possibilities," he added.
Deputy Commander of the Combat Squadron in Ramat David base, Major J. added: "This is a moment to confront the unknown, for we might carry out operations in strange places or in places we are unacquainted with."
A Signal for the Inside and the Outside
The proximity in time between the missile examination and the statement of the aerial exercise can be a coincidence, or a snare media trick that's designed to ablaze the public discussion on the attack in Iran.
It may even be directed in particular to dismay the international community on the eve of filing its new report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the subject of Iran's nuclear program.
In the Office of the Prime Minister they claimed Thursday that there is no connection between the deliberations of the government and the media on one side, and the preparations of the security system on the other side.
The missile test was decided several months ago, and it has been postponed several times due to technical reasons. The air maneuver has been decided eight months ago. However, there is no doubt that the Thursday's statements reflected signals from the security system to the international community and to Iran that it's building up its strategic arm.
The Iranian chief of staff, General Hassan Firuzabadi, has commented for the first time on the discussions of a possible "Israeli" attack and said that Iran will punish "Israel" and the United States for a step like this.
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They Silence Others, Then Gossip
Yedioth Ahronoth, Eitan Haber
"If I was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 's head of intelligence, I would have placed this morning the letter of my resignation on the table of the Iranian ruler and I would have said to him:" Sir, "the Jews have gone crazy."
We should assume that the Iranian ruler will not give up quickly on the head of the intelligence services this morning, and he will ask him to know what's happening in that remote state. If I were the head of the intelligence I would have responded: "Sir, I do not understand anything, and our computers, which pick up information from "Israel", are out of control."
If any foreigner got stuck Thursday in "Israel", read the newspapers, heard the radio stations, and watched the news would have believed that he had reached an obsessive state.
Along with morning coffee we all he heard the two ministers Dan Meridor and Benny Begin condemning, within earshot of the sleepy Israelis, the recent leaks about Iran calling them "lax" and "villainous."
Dan Meridor and Benny Begin, for those who do not know, are the two ministers of compliments in the current "Israeli" government and they rush to the microphone and cameras to exhibit its moderate side.
To all ministers who are attacking the publications I remind them: When it is intended to keep a secret, people know how to do it. Shalit deal sets the best example, which did not leak until the moment of approval.
The best tool for the government to prevent the publications endangering national security is military censorship. The proof is that all that was published in recent days on Iran has passed the authentication control. Unless it is ratified - it is not published.
And here it is, the moment the ministers slammed the media publications related to the attack that will or will not be in Iran, the "IDF" Spokesman figured out that it is right for some up-to-date political and military forums to publish a set of news one should not be an intelligence officer with Ahmadinejad to understand its goal: a long-range ballistic missile launched from the field experiments in "Palmahim" followed by a statement of "praise" from "Defense" Minister Ehud Barak and "sources" recounted that it could carry a nuclear weapon.
The squadron of "Israeli" Air Force trained in the skies of Italy, and security forums explained to the media that one of the training objectives was to fly over an unknown and foreign sky. Hereafter, a large domestic maneuver was reported.
They are rubbing their hands in despair in the Pentagon, scratching their heads in the Kremlin, while they are shaking their shoulders in London and Paris: no one understands what is going on here.
On one hand, we strongly condemn the unprecedented publications about a possible attack of the air force, and on the other we set the newspapers on fire to raise tension and to show the forces that threaten us to destroy us, how much we are prepared and ready.
Ministers' publications aim at scaring "Israeli" media. Other publications are designed to scare the Iranians.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must ask the resigned intelligence officer, "if this was not asmart secret plan set by the Jews, is it possible they aim to disturb us?"
Immediate examination should be done if it were not a misleading plan set by "Israeli" Nobel Prize Elders.
Had they wanted to hide their preparations, rockets and maneuvers of the domestic front, the Jews would have almost certainly used the military censorship - but their security censorship is publishing the Ministers' denunciations and the news of military exercises at the same time. So what is going on here?
"Sir" Iran's intelligence chief will say, "I no longer trust the Jews. What appears in your view as a plan to mislead the intelligence is just a disorganized mess, lack of capacity to govern, loss of control, and everyone is just expressing what's on their mind. I am ready to put my hand in fire to bet that in "Israel" there is not even one person who knows what will happen next and what will be done."
Iran in the Headlines: The Course of Stupidity
Israel Hayom - Uri Heitner
After the Persian Gulf War, Former Prime Minister Menachem Begin received a surprising letter signed by a group of Knesset members headed by Yitzhak Rabin.
The letter thanked Begin for his decision to destroy the Iraqi nuclear reactor a decade earlier.
The surprise in the letter was that among those who signed it, were MKs who had been firmly opposed to the decision before the strike, and criticized it afterwards.
In retrospect they all admitted the rationalization of the process. They understood the grave significance of having weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a radical tyrant like Saddam Hussein, and appreciated Begin's leadership, bravery and decision-making skills.
Begin arrived at his bold decision despite opposition from many officials, among them members of the security system. In hindsight, they realized his justified belief: A prime minister's utmost priority is to ensure "Israel's" existence.
According to the Begin Doctrine, as it has since been named, "Israel" will make every effort to ensure that its enemies won't obtain nuclear weapons.
It is according to this doctrine that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made, "according to foreign sources," the most important decision of his term, to destroy the Syrian nuclear reactor.
This doctrine is more relevant today concerning Iran, which is ruled by Islamic extremists. Letting a country as crazy as Iran to get its hands on nuclear weapons constitutes a threat to world peace, but foremost to "Israel's" security. An "Israeli" prime minister who does not abide by the Begin Doctrine - who does not do everything in his power to prevent a nuclear Iran - is a prime minister giving up on his duties.
The question is how to prevent it. It does not necessarily mean an "Israeli" attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Military action is the last resort, and so as long as crises can be forestalled diplomatically and through sanctions, then this is the way it should be.
The Iranian threat is global, and as such it should be the free world, headed by the US, that leads the fight in preventing the Iranian nuclear program. And if it still remains that the only viable solution to prevent the Iranian nuclear program is "Israeli" military action, then no government has the moral right to avoid such a choice, despite the risks.
Of course it is imperative to ensure that military action would be effective, as well as to take into account the price Israel might pay as result. But such discussion should not be held in a public forum, as media speculation attenuates "Israeli" deterrence and gives Iranian leaders the feeling that "Israel" has disdained the military option. If Iran comes to the conclusion that "Israel" will not strike then nothing will stop the ayatollah's regime in its quest for nuclear arms.
The public debate fuming in "Israel" over a possible attack on Iran is rash and irresponsible. Thanks to reckless leaks of information, the "Israeli" public is being pushed into a mayhem that delegitimizes military action against the Iranian nuclear program.
"Israel's" highest duty, which is to defend its citizens, is being depicted as an adventurous game being played by two irresponsible men who must be reminded not to play with fire.
In Iran, it would be easy to see the nature of the debate as "Israel's" abandonment of military action, thus dealing a harsh blow to "Israeli" deterrence. Such damage could bolster Iran's procurement of nuclear weapons as a done deal.
Iranian nuclear weapons are an existential threat to "Israel". Even if not used, their existence could change the balance of power in the Middle East, effectively turning the region into an Iranian regime's hostage.
Public debates that cause a de-legitimization of "Israel's" highest duty to protect its citizens only play in favor of Iran and strike hard at "Israel's" security.
Source: Hebrew Newspapers, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org
