WarSclerotic

Iran as the primary threat Israel faces, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday.

Speaking at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on the 2017-2018 defense budget, Lieberman said Israel is closely following the Iranian reaction to continued sanctions against it by the U.S. Congress, as well as Iran’s recruitment of 5,000 mercenaries for the force it is building in Syria.

According to a U.S. State Department report, Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and without its support, groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad would not be able to exist.

Speaking of the procurement of Dolphin-class submarines from Germany, Lieberman told the committee that since 2004 all the relevant bodies in the Defense Ministry have been aware that an Iranian government-owned investment firm was a minority shareholder  in ThyssenKrup, the German company building Israel’s submarines. He stressed that all necessary precautions were taken to protect Israel’s secrets.

Lieberman also addressed the legal campaign against Israel.

“A war of legal attrition is being waged against Israel by international groups, funded by foreign elements, including by countries in Europe. The defense establishment is presently contending with 260 petitions to the High Court of Justice: 110 against Jewish settlement and another 150 against Israel by the Palestinians. This is detrimental to the Defense Ministry’s legal department and to the functioning of the ministry itself,” he said.

On the Syrian front, Lieberman said Israel “does what is necessary” to prevent game-changing weapons from falling into Hezbollah’s hands.

“Israel has no interest in intervening in the civil war in Syria,” he said.

“Our policies and positions are very clear, and they are based on three red lines: We will not allow any harm to come to the Israeli public; we will not allow anyone to undermine Israel’s sovereignty; and we will not allow the smuggling of sophisticated weapons or chemical weapons from Syria to Lebanon and to Hezbollah.

“One very important thing that everyone has to understand is that Israel makes its own decisions freely, within the scope of the policy, and there are no other limitations or circumstances to consider.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot also addressed the committee, and said the issue of female soldiers serving in the Infantry and in the Armored Corps was still under review and that a decision is yet to be made.

On the matter of sexual assault and harassment in the IDF following the case of Brig. Gen. Ofek Buchris, Eizenkot reiterated the military’s zero-tolerance policy on the issue.