Time Magazine quotes Israeli defense official as saying that Israel can only delay Tehran’s nuclear program by several months, at most a year.
Haaretz
A senior Israel Defense Forces commander has said that Israel is unable to attack Iran’s nuclear program in a meaningful way, Time Magazine reported on Thursday.
According to the report, which is quoting an Israeli defense official, a senior IDF commander presented the cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a gloomy assessment last fall.
“I informed the cabinet we have no ability to hit the Iranian nuclear program in a meaningful way,” the official quoted the senior commander as saying. “If I get the order I will do it, but we don’t have the ability to hit in a meaningful way.”
The defense official told Time, that according to an estimate by the Atomic Energy Commission, Israel will only be able to push back Iran’s nuclear program by several months to a year, after taking into account the wide geographic dispersion of Tehran’s nuclear facilities and the the limits of Israel’s air force.
Earlier Thursday, former IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi said that Israel must do all it can to operate under the radar against Iran, but should simultaneously prepare for a possible strike against Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
“Israel must do all it can under the radar and combine that with paralyzing sanctions, but at the same time keep a reliable military option on the table with the willingness to use it if necessary,” Ashkenazi said.
“When the moment comes I don’t know if we won’t be alone, and for this reason Israel must also rely on itself,” he said.
#1 by rehmat1 on January 28, 2012 - 5:47 pm
On January 17, 2012 – Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, head of the Israel Occupation Force (IOF) planing department, told reporters in Jerusalem that once Iran poseses nuclear arsenal, it will make hard for Israel to defeat Hamas and Hizbullah.
”If we are forced to do things in Gaza or in Lebanon – under the Iranian nuclear umbrella it might be different,” said Amir Eshel.
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/israel-nuclear-iran-makes-hard-to-defeat-hamas-and-hizbullah/
#2 by Ingrid B on January 28, 2012 - 6:31 pm
“When the moment comes I don’t know if we won’t be alone, and for this reason Israel must also rely on itself,” he said.” : are we supposed to feel sorry for these schweinhund?
#3 by Anna L. Phabet on January 29, 2012 - 12:10 am
It’s Schweinehund Ingrid.
Plural = Schweinehunde
Don’t get mad with me.
#4 by Ingrid B on January 29, 2012 - 3:56 am
@Anna L. Phabet, why would I, it`s nice of you to correct my feeble attempt at German, danke? but the term seemed to fit..