Israeli minister hurls unprecedented threat at Iran
April 7, 2008, 3:56 PM (GMT+02:00)
National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Monday, April 7: “An Iranian strike on Israel would result in an Israeli response that would devastate the Iranian nation.” On a visit to the national defense exercise’s situation room, Ben-Eliezer also warned: “An Initial strike on Israel would see hundreds of missiles hit us… all of Israel will be within range of Syrian and Hizballah missiles.”
DEBKAfile’s military sources note: In all of its 60 years, no Israeli leader has ever threatened to destroy another nation, however belligerent - even when Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel should be “wiped off the map.”
His words directly contradict the soothing statements made by prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak that the defense exercise is in no way intended as a threat or an escalation of war tensions.
The minister’s wild rhetoric, apparently off the top of his head, could be interpreted as a threat of Israeli nuclear retaliation to a potential Iranian attack.
Ben Eliezer continued in slightly more measured tones when he said: The Iranians won’t be rushing to attack Israel because they are well aware of our strength, but they bait us by providing weapons to Syria and Hizballah, which we need to deal with.”
Our sources point out that thus far, Israel has never directly addressed any of the three perils.
In Tehran foreign ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Husseini advised the states in the region to closely watch the Israeli exercise, which he described as “provocative” and aimed at boosting the army’s morale.
Posts
