Sneh: Israel must prepare to 'act alone' against Iranian nukes

Sneh: Lessons learned from the war in Lebanon need to be applied 'to the real conflict, with Iran.'

By HERB KEINON
sneh 88 (photo credit: )
sneh 88
(photo credit: )
Israel is deluding itself if it believes the "clich " that Iran's nuclear program is a world problem that will be dealt with by the international community, Labor MK and former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh said Monday. Israel's public position on Iran over the last three years has been that a nuclear Iran is a threat not only to Israel but the entire world, and that as such the entire world needs to mobilize to solve the problem, not only Israel. Sneh, speaking at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism's International Conference on Global Terrorism at IDC Herzliya,, said that everyone who mouths these words knows that the likelihood of the international community taking effective action against Iran is "at best 15 percent." Sneh said that if Israel will now realize that it cannot rely on anyone else, and that it has to be prepared regarding questions of its survival, "then the painful wake-up call that [Hizbullah leader Hassan] Nasrallah gave us would not be in vain." Sneh's comments came during a panel discussion dealing with Israel's preparation for the War in Lebanon. Clarifying his remarks to The Jerusalem Post afterward, Sneh said that the lessons learned from the war in Lebanon need to be applied "to the real conflict, with Iran." "We have to stop saying the clich s that no one believes in, that this is the role of the free world, that the international community should shoulder the burden of coping with Iran. Nobody really believes this will happen," he said. Sneh said that Israel must prepare to "do it alone, and we have to prepare for that properly." Sneh said, however, he was not advocating a preemptive strike. "I'm saying that we have to be prepared, because if you are not prepared, then the options don't exist." he added. He said this preparation must be done "fast, fast, there is no time. I didn't say to attack; I said we need the ability to deal with them." Sneh said he is advocating a situation where "Israel will have all the necessary capacities to cope with threats that are thousands of miles away." Sneh's remarks came a day after OC Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the cabinet that international pressure and UN sanctions would not stop the Iranian march toward nuclearization. Sneh's comments also dovetail with those made by other senior officials recently to the effect that it was becoming clear that the world was unlikely to stop the Iranians, and that Israel may have no other choice but to act alone to slow down the Iranian nuclear program.