WarSclerotic

Israel Hayom.

Senior government official makes remarks after recent reports suggest that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are urging an attack on Iranian nuclear sites • Barak: Iranian threat is discussed in public “all the time.”

Any public discussion over the issue of Iran “is in itself bad and constitutes a danger to national security,” a senior government official said Monday, referring to recent reports suggesting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have been pushing for a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities without having a public discussion on the matter.

In an interview with Army Radio on Monday, Barak said a public debate had been held on the Iranian threat for years, but that it was clear to everyone that the possibility of attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities should not be discussed in public.

“I do not think that these things should be discussed on a radio program,” Barak said. “I have repeated time and again that Iran’s progress toward nuclear weapons is a major threat to Israel and the stability of the entire region, and it also constitutes a challenge to the world. We should not be taking options off the table. These are things we’ve been saying for years, reciting them ad nauseam.”

Barak also rejected claims that he and Netanyahu “closed a deal alone” and apparently decided on military action against Iran without consultation. “It doesn’t take a genius to understand that in the state of Israel two people can’t just decide to do something on their own,” Barak said. “The Defense Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office have thousands of pages documenting discussions on this issue between dozens of officials and ministers.”

Barak added, “There is a public debate on the Iranian threat all the time. The state of Israel in particular and the world at large cannot allow a nuclear Iran. These things have been known, and I don’t think I need to discuss them here. But if the need arises, we will discuss this issue further.”

Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday also commented on the public debate over Iran, saying in a radio interview that, “Someone decided to flood the public debate with this issue, but it is not in our national interest to be chit-chatting about it. There’s one thing that should be concerning every citizen in Israel, and that is Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Everything else is less important.”

Sensitivity over the Iran discussion follows criticism of former Mossad chief Meir Dagan over statements he made after leaving his post about Israel’s ability to launch a military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In June, Dagan criticized Netanyahu and Barak at a conference, where he said, “There is a leadership void,” and expressed his view that Iran should not be attacked. Later, he was quoted saying that with the head of the Israeli Security Agency gone, and with the departure of the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and director of military intelligence, “No one stands in the way of Bibi and Barak” when it comes to important decisions such as an attack on Iran.

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