Israel needs to prepare a credible and viable military option to eliminate
Iran’s nuclear facilities, former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen (res.) Gabi
Ashkenazi said on Thursday.
“In comparison to 10 years ago, the
possibility of a conflict is not something that we just need to talk
about.
We also need to prepare for it,” Ashkenazi said at a conference in
Tel Aviv.
Calling for a strategy that combines “everything that can be
done under the radar” – likely a reference to covert action – with “painful and
crippling sanctions,” Ashkenazi also said that Israel needed to create a
military option and declare its readiness to use it.
Ashkenazi served as
IDF chief of staff from 2007 until 2011 and likely played a key role in
preparing the military for a possible attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
He commanded over the IDF in 2007, when foreign reports ascribed the strike
against Syria’s nuclear reactor to Israel.
While the sanctions were
having an effect on Iran, Ashkenazi warned that time was running out since the
Iranian’s nuclear program was moving forward at a rapid pace.
“Our
mission now needs to be to slow down the clock and to speed up the clock of
sanctions and hope that it works,” he said.
Ashkenazi is scheduled to be
one of the speakers at The Jerusalem Post Conference on April 29 in New York.