Iran's success in obtaining a nuclear capability will deter Jews from immigrating to Israel, cause many Israelis to leave and will be the end of the "Zionist dream," former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh said Tuesday.
Ephraim Sneh.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
"A nuclear weapon in Iranian hands will be an intolerable reality for Israel," Sneh said during a conference on Iran's nuclear program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv.
"The decision-making process in Israel will be under constant [Iranian] influence - this will be the end of the Zionist dream."
Former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy slammed Israeli political leaders for calling Iran's nuclear threat "an existential threat."
"There is something wrong with informing our enemy that they can bring about our demise," Halevy said. "It is also wrong that we inform the world that the moment the Iranians have a nuclear capability there is a countdown to the destruction of the State of Israel."
"We are the superpower in the Middle East and it is time that we began behaving like [a] superpower," he said.
Iran's real goal, Halevy said, was to turn itself into a regional superpower and reach a "state of equality" with the United States in their diplomatic dealings.
Sneh said that while the military option was not preferred, Israel needed to keep it on the table since such a possibility was the motivation for the international community's efforts to use diplomacy to stop Iran. Sneh added that he was confident that the IDF was capable of successfully carrying out a military strike against Iran.
"We grew up in a place that when the political echelon wanted something, the professional echelon knew how to do it," he said. "I believe this has not changed in 2008."
