Iran nuclear program
Iran nuclear programiStock

In light of the impending nuclear deal between Iran and Western powers, former senior intelligence officials are warning that Israel must prepare for a military confrontation with it or its satellites.

The Ministry of Defense's former political defense department head Amos Gilad and former National Security Council chief Yakov Amidror said in an interview in Israel Hayom, that there is no chance of preventing the nuclear deal, therefore Israel must be ready to protect herself through military means.

"Iran is a major strategic threat to the state of Israel. You have to understand that we aren't just talking about a vision, the Iranians are investing a lot of resources to acquire very threatening abilities. According to foreign reports, they have 150 thousand rockets pointed at Israel in Lebanon, long-range missiles, cyber and terror abilities, and worst of all they're on the brink of going nuclear," says Gilad.

"This is a bad deal and it's good that Israel stated clearly that they aren't bound by it," added Amidror. "Once the Americans decided that they will work towards a deal at almost any cost, the diplomatic 'options' were exhausted. I don't see any way to convince the Iranians other than force since Iran isn't being stopped by diplomatic or financial pressure. This obligates us to ensure that we're ready for a military option".

Gilad also thinks that the deal is a bad one, but in this case, all options are bad. "The question is do we go with the US or against it? The United States will decide to make the deal, with us or without us, and we have the power to influence the issue. If we go against them rhetorically we won't gain anything. We have to understand that, for various reasons, we can't attack Iran without coordinating with the Americans. Therefore we can have fierce discussions with the Americans, but not publicly. We have to strengthen our relations with our western allies and with the Arab nations. Those relations do make us stronger, but we can't start dreaming that we'll have a 'NATO' in the area.

If Iran achieves a nuclear weapon," he adds, "they will terrorize the whole middle east, and the whole area will be forced into a nuclear arms race. Our advantage is that we seem to have strategic abilities, and we will be looked at differently in a nuclear middle east."

Gilad agrees with Amidror and says that Israel must develop advanced military capabilities. "We have to build a military superpower based on our abilities and American assistance. In a month from now, we may be in a conflict with Lebanon, and therefore we need massive protection and to use our relations with the Arab states."

Gilad is also worried about Israel's domestic situation: "Instead of worrying about the external threats, we're wasting billions of Shekels on elections. It's unbelievable how such a smart nation is also so stupid: we can't be busy wasting money and striking instead of concentrating on the real threat."

Former IDF intelligence research department chief Brigadier General (res.) Yosi Kuperwasser says that despite the American promise not to allow Iran to achieve nuclear weapons "at this point there's no way to prevent it, Iran is already too close to their objective."