Barak: Iranian Threat A Sword on Our Neck

Last updated 30-05-2012 - 10:57

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that the Iranian threat has reached a point that constitutes "a sword on the neck" of the Zionist entity.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Institute for National Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv, Barak stated that the Israeli leadership felt like the “Jewish State had a sword to its neck prior to the 1967 Six-Day War”***, and felt their was no choice but to act. He suggested that the “Iranian threat” may have come to this point, or be nearing this point.

The defense minister, who has often employed the phrase "point of no return" in referring to Iran's nuclear program, said that a sword on the neck traditionally has meant that one's enemies have attained weaponry and are poised to strike. When speaking of nuclear capabilities, he added, the ability to obtain the weapon is enough to constitute a sword on the neck. If Iran has already obtained nuclear weapons, it will be too late to act, Barak said.

Barak said that while "nobody wants to go to war," Iran was "methodically" working towards nuclear weapons capability. He reiterated the Israeli leadership's stance that Tehran is buying time to place itself in a position to “pursue nuclear weapons”.

He said that the Iranian regime was disguising its actions so that the international community would not know when they had "passed the line in the sand." "The Iranians are trying to lead the entire world astray and breach the directives of the IAEA," Barak claimed.

****Fact check

There was no united front challenging Israel, no "Arab strategy." Egypt, Syria, and Jordan distrusted each other. Tarring Israel as an enemy was pure propaganda, propaganda that segued into a policy of baiting, without the means to back up the threats.

"The creation of a new Israeli cabinet on June 2 brought in hawks such as Moshe Dayan as defense minister and hardliner Menachem Begin. They insisted that the bluff be called to put an end to Syrian threats, deflate Nasser's prestige, and maintain the IDF's credibility—all while achieving Israel's geopolitical goals, that is, expanding the state's borders and increasing its strategic depth. On June 4, the cabinet voted to go to war."

"For five years," IDF chief of operations Gen. Ezer Weizman recalled, referring to the surprise air strike against Egypt,

"I had been talking of this operation, explaining it, hatching it, dreaming of it, manufacturing it link by link, training men to carry it out."

"The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai approaches," Menachem Begin told the New York Times, "do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him."

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