Israel: We are Under Existential Threat

Israeli occupation Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi

presented defense minister Ehud Barak with a military's work plan for 2009, saying that ‘Tehran near-nuclear capabilities, existing ballistic aptitude and terror contacts pose 'existential threat' to Israel.’

The defense establishment has recently declared, for the first time in years, that the State of Israel is under an "existential threat."

The annual work plan for 2009 officially defines Iran as "a threat to Israel's existence," with all that implies from it - training, equipment and preparation-wise.

In the outline of the plan, Ashkenazi defines the Iranian peril as "the No.1 threat the IDF is now preparing for."

“The threat, which consists of Tehran's nearly-obtained nuclear capabilities, existing ballistic aptitude and proven emissary-fighting, in the form of funding Hamas, Hezbollah and other terror groups, clouds all of the military's other plans for the work year.”

Faced with a credible threat, the Israel occupation army stands to focus on investing funds in its strategic aerial capabilities, especially developing remote-piloted vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as infrastructural investments in intelligence and communications systems.

It also stands to increase ground forces' training, both in the regular army and for reserve forces.

The onset of 2009 marks the second year in the military's perennial Tefen Program, launched as part of the Brodet Report, which reviewed the defense establishment's budget.

The report indicated a NIS 1.5 billion (approximately $369.4 million) budget deficiency, as well as concerns as to the home front's readiness. The funds to remedy the situation are supposed to be allotted via the various government bureaus, but the financial crisis enveloping Israel has clouded the entire program's future.

Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency Fars reported Sunday that Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced Tehran would be upgrading its military ties with Russia in the near future.

According to the report, Najjar is scheduled to arrive in Moscow on Monday, where he will meet his Russian counterpart, Anatoliy Eduardovich Serdyukov. The two will reportedly discuss future defense contracts.

IRAN NEXT TARGER, WARNS ISRAELI DIPLOMAT

A Senior Israeli diplomat has warned that Israel is ready to launch a military offensive against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

In an interview with The Age, Dan Gillerman, who was Israel's permanent representative at the United Nations from 2003 until last September, said time for diplomatic efforts to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear capability might have already expired.

"Israel has made it very clear that it will not live with a nuclear Iran and I believe that Israel has the ability and the capacity to make sure it will not happen," Gillerman said.

Gillerman said two clocks were running with respect to Iran: "There is the technological clock of Iran and there is the diplomatic clock, and I think the Iranian clock is running much faster."

Detailed military plans to bomb Iran's nuclear enrichment plant have long been on the table of Israeli military commanders. Outgoing Defense Minister Ehud Barak is believed to have requested US support for a military strike last May, but the plans were aborted after then-president George Bush declined to endorse them.

Last June, Israel carried out military exercises over the Mediterranean involving more than 100 F-16 and F-15 fighters in what was interpreted as a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear plants. At the time, The New York Times reported that as well as sending a warning to Tehran, the exercise was intended as a message to the US that Israel was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from producing bomb-grade uranium faltered.

On Tuesday, the man likely to lead Israel's next government, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, made a reference to Iran in his victory speech. He said: "Israel is facing an Iranian threat, from afar and from near. The nuclear threat and the terror threat … it will be up to us to deal with this, and we will be able to deal with these two challenges successfully."

Israel has carried out two strikes on suspected nuclear sites over the past 30 years. In 1981, its jets bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak, and in September 2007, Israeli aircraft bombed a structure in Syria that was alleged to have housed a nuclear reactor.

Any new attack against Iran would be much more complicated, with the country's uranium enrichment plants spread across many sites. Iran's comparatively sophisticated military and its distance from Israel would present further complications for military planners and risk setting off a full-scale war.