Iran, a nightmare for all

Iran, a nightmare for all

Of Moshe Yaalon, one may state that he is a characteristic Israeli of his generation; born in 1950 in a small farming community on the outskirts of Haifa called Kiryat Haim.  When called to the obligatory military draft at the age of 18, he served in an airborne unit: among those that are considered the elite in the Israel Defense Force.  Having demobilized at the end of his term, however, he returns to the army as a reservist during the war in 1973 and participates in the liberation of the Suez Canal.  It was then that he discovered his aptitude for the military; he grew to become an officer and ascended in his career via service split between various airborne units. He returns to university and obtains degrees at Staff College Camberley in England and Haifa University.  His university education, his military experience, and his intelligence propel him to the utmost: chief of Israeli Military intelligence and later to IDF chief of staff.  Today, he is a Knesset representative, vice-prime minister of Israel, and minister in charge of strategic affairs for the Hebrew state.  When a man of such experience and proven seriousness speaks, it is lucid to listen.

For far too long the Israelis and their neighbors have lived under the perennial threat of destruction that would result as a consequence, if the Iranian ayatollahs and their governing representative--the unbearable Mahmud Ahmadinejad were to become armed with nuclear weapons.  At a recent conference which took place in Herzeliah, on the 2^nd of February, Yaalon emphasized the danger of disavowing the complexity of current society, believing that it is possible to produce peace instantaneously, or democracy instantaneously in the Middle East; as if unknowing of recent accounts in the Arab world, we were to drift into over falls. He also  noted the negativities of the islamists, with Iran spotting top, in recognizing the State of Israel as a Jewish state and her determination to exist;-- are based on their conviction that Israel exists illegally on land that is sacred to Islam, and accordingly, is called upon to disappear.  Yaalon stated that an Iran with nuclear capabilities would be “a nightmare for the free world, for the Arab countries, and for Israel”.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Yaalons’ attendance at the conference was tremendously enlightening as it highlighted aspects such as that of the current Turkish governments funneling Iranian assets through their banking systems.  Another revelatory fact dealt with the demolition of a steel production facility, destroyed this past December, located in Yazd close to Tehran; where , for some time, there has been speculation regarding clandestine nuclear facilities.  In effect, at the aforementioned plant, it was their intent to manufacture missiles with nuclear capabilities with a range of more than 10,000 km, giving them the ability to reach various important American cities.

Further in the speech, Yaalon surmises that Iran, while not taking the west seriously, although knowing of its capacity to destroy nuclear installations; considers his enemies determination to do so as non-existent.  Meanwhile, they continue manipulating us.

We know of the Iranian government’s infiltration of Latin America, vis-à-vis its agents in Hezbollah and its consequences: the massacres at the Israeli embassy and the Amia community center in Buenos Aires.  It is assumed that Mahmud Ahmadinejads recent tour through Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Cuba is aimed at incrementing this type of activity against Jewish and Israeli institutions in the region.  During the conference in Herzeliah, Yaalon also denounced coordination between Hizbullah and Mexican drug cartels objectives to smuggle explosives and personal into US territory.

One other important functionary who participated in the conference was the top ranking major general of military intelligence, Aviv Kochavi, who expounded upon the information adding that in reality- Israel has learned to live with more than two hundred thousand missiles pointed at her cities.  Kochavi also revealed how at this moment Iran possesses roughly 100 kg of 20% uranium enriched, that would be enough (according to the military were it enriched to 90%) to construct 4 atom bombs.

The good news, amidst the negativity of the situation, is that according to the vice-prime minister, all of the Iranian installations can be pummeled in one military strike since experience has taught him “Everything that human beings build can be destroyed by other human beings”.  We hope for diplomacy to resolve the problem, yet it is comforting to know that if left with no other remedy, we can destroy the ambitions of our enemies.