Gantz: People Who Once Knew of Things Regarding Iran Aren’t in the Loop
Today
The IDF Chief of Staff criticized former defense establishment senior
officials Ashkenazi, Dagan, and Diskin during a foreign affairs and defense
committee review, and claimed that there is “considerable chatter”
concerning the Iranian issue

IsraelDefense 6/6/2012
http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=483&ArticleID=1331

IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, responded to the
comments made by former senior officials of Israel’s defense establishment,
who expressed their opinions regarding the possibility of an Israeli attack
against Iran. “There is considerable chatter and public discourse. There are
people who were knowledgeable once and are not knowledgeable today.”

Gantz criticized, albeit indirectly, his predecessor, Lt. Gen. (Res.) Gabi
Ashkenazi, as well as the former head of Israel’s Mossad, Meir Dagan, and
former head of the Shabak, Yuval Diskin, adding that “the Iranian issue is a
dynamic matter and very few people know what is and what isn’t; what is
possible and what is impossible. There are quite a few people who boast that
they know things when they don’t. There’s a great distance between public
discourse and professional discourse, which is worthy of being done in the
appropriate forums.”

During a review at the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defense committee,
Gantz assessed that the Israeli Air Force would be challenged at least three
times by 2018. The Chief of Staff added that Iran “has yet to make a
decision on whether or not to cross the nuclear threshold, due to its
strategic considerations. The three vectors are international, diplomatic,
and national isolation, economic pressure stemming from the international
sanctions, and lastly project interferences, which I will not discuss. In
order to possess a reliable military threat, the army must be massively
ready, which I consider to be the case. The only ones that will decide to
relinquish the nuclear issue are the Iranians themselves, and as an army,
our readiness is prepared for this as well.”

Gantz also referred to the events in Syria, which has been in the midst of a
vicious civil war for more than a year. The chief of staff described the
situation in Damascus as a lose-lose situation. “If Assad falls, which I
think is what will eventually happen, then there is a crack in the radical
axis. If he remains, he will be weak, and we will be in the same state of
instability. It won’t be good there – there’s a price tag of regional
instability in any scenario, which I believe we will meet with increased
smuggling attempts and activities along the border fence.”

Regarding Hezbollah, Gantz said that the terror organization “is busy trying
to carry out terror attacks throughout the world, and they are also
concerned about the Syrian issue.”