The time will come that Israel will have to defend itself and attack Iran to stop it from becoming a nuclear power, Knesset Member Effie Eitam has warned.
Speaking recently at the town of Beit El in Samaria, he declared, "Israel has the right and the ability to defend itself and that day is around the corner" but expressed confidence that the United States would stand by Israel. He said the Iranian threat is very real. "There is no exaggeration and we should not underestimate that cloud which hangs over the State of Israel."
MK Eitam, a decorated hero in the Yom Kippur War, commander in the Gaza region during the first Intifada and an officer in the daring 1976 Entebbe rescue mission of Israeli hostages in Uganda, maintained that Israel cannot rely only its military strength. Power by itself will not end the threat that Israel faces in maintaining its true strength of "morals and principals [that] lie in its Jewish identity," he said. "The ultimate solution is education, awareness [and] lifestyle of how Jews should be and live as individuals, as communities and as a state."
Reflecting his strong position on the place of Israel for Jews, he declared, "Israel is not a state of the Israelis. It is a state of the Jewish people."
Israel is not a state of the Israelis. It is a state of the Jewish people.
His military career was highlighted with his receiving the Medal of Distinguished Service during the Yom Kippur War, when he and his sergeant stopped Syrian tanks in the Golan Heights and later rescued wounded comrades. He retired from active service in the IDF in 2001 and the following year started his political career as chairman of the National Religious Party, which ran in the last general elections with the National Union party.
MK Eitam bitterly opposed the expulsion of Jews in Gush Katif, where he moved with his family to reinforce the will of the Jewish communities there.