True national defense includes the ability to attack and deter the enemy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday in a pre-recorded video speech to National Defense College students on the occasion of their graduation.
Although the prime minister did not name a specific enemy, it is likely that the hint was directed at Tehran and Damascus.
“Ultimately, true defense is the ability to attack and deter the enemy,” he said.
Netanyahu listed five major threats currently facing Israel: Iran’s nuclear aspirations, missiles and rockets fired into Israel by neighbors, cyber warfare targeting Israel, the infiltration of Israel’s borders and the ever-growing weapons arsenals in the region. The prime minister insisted that Israel could counter “any one of these threats.”
“The Iranian nuclear program is a threat to us and to the entire Middle East,” Netanyahu said. “But there is also a closer threat – there are chemical weapons in Syria that are currently in certain hands, and tomorrow could be in different hands. This forces the State of Israel to shift the deployment of forces and the defense budgets. I say defense budgets [in the plural] because aside from the IDF there are additional security bodies.”
On the Iranian nuclear issue, the prime minister said that sanctions had not achieved the desired result of halting Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. On the cybernetics issue, he noted that Israel was among the world’s leading countries in the field, according to the statement.
On the threat of rockets and missiles, Netanyahu stressed Israel’s extensive use of both active and passive defense measures including the Iron Dome missile defense system, the David’s Sling medium- to long-range missile interceptor and the Arrow defense system, as well as improvements in the early warning system and other homefront defenses.
Netanyahu added that the threat of cyber warfare was becoming more apparent, but he surmised that most people were not aware of just how vulnerable developed countries were to this kind of attack, as they grew more and more reliant on computers and computerized systems.
“My goal was to become one of the world’s five cyber superpowers,” he declared. “We’re already there, and we won’t remain in fifth place. We are rapidly climbing, but this requires an investment. [The ability to defend against] cyberwarfare is extremely important to the security of Israel.”
Commenting on Israel’s borders, Netanyahu said that infiltration by foreigners constituted a threat to the character of the state and for this reason it was important to build the barrier fence in the south, “which even before its completion is contributing to the significant reduction in the number of infiltrators crossing the border,” the statement said.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak also spoke at the graduation ceremony, telling graduates that “in the middle of 2012, Israel finds itself dealing with some of the most complex and complicated challenges that have ever faced our political and military leadership. We may have to make difficult, crucial decisions concerning Israel’s national security.”
Barak spoke about several challenges, including terrorism — which struck recently in Burgas, Bulgaria, killing five Israeli tourists — the deteriorating relations with Turkey, and the integration of haredim (ultra-Orthodox) into the army.
On Iran, the defense minister said, “I am well aware of the difficulties involved in thwarting Iran’s attempts to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is clear to me that, without a doubt, dealing with the threat itself will be far more complicated, far more dangerous and far more costly in terms of both resources and human life. This is the time for the entire world to unite – unity of action, unity of purpose, and [to gather] the political will in order to stop, quickly and purposefully, the Iranian nuclear program.”
Commenting on the threat of a spillover of violence from Syria, Barak said, “We are monitoring the events in Syria very closely. We have said this and we mean it: The State of Israel will not accept the transfer of advanced weapons systems from Syria to Hezbollah.”
The defense minister also spoke about Israel’s relations with the U.S. amid differences between the two countries on Iran and other issues in the region.
“We are in a continuous, intimate and open dialogue with the U.S. administration, even if we don’t always totally agree,” Barak said. “One can combine the political and security responsibility and complete sovereignty of our own decisions, while maintaining the special relationship with the U.S., our most important ally.”
However, he said, “There are some differences between America and Israel; the source of those differences being the different paces of our ticking clocks, the differences in capabilities, as well as other power discrepancies and differences of compulsion. This dictates that each [country] has its own particular conclusions and points of view. The most important thing here is the fact that, at the end of the day, America understands that the government of Israel – and it alone – holds the ultimate responsibility over the decisions that affect the security and future of the State of Israel.”
He concluded by stating that the government was working on making required changes to the Tal Law, which grants blanket army exemptions to haredi youth.
“We attribute paramount importance to this subject and are working – within the defense establishment – in accordance with the needs and requirements of the IDF in order to formulate rules that will bring both profound and fundamental changes,” he said. “These changes will be based on broadening and deepening the sharing of ‘the burden’; appropriate compensation for those who serve, and the growing integration of the ultra-Orthodox into the workforce.”
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