Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised the Israeli public that he
is capable of "pushing the button" to strike Iranian nuclear facilities
if he felt he had to, in a Channel 2 investigative report aired Monday.
"I guarantee that as if I'm re-elected as prime minister I will
not allow Iran to get a nuclear bomb," Netanyahu said in an interview.
Asked if he was really capable of "pressing the button," Netanyahu
replied: "I am capable, if I have to. I hope that I won't have to."
He emphasized that he was not "rushing to war," and indicated that he
would prefer to solve the issue through international sanctions. "Iran
is progressing, step by step," he said. "Today we are not begging other
people to help us. Today we are prepared ourselves."
The first part of the report,
previewed Sunday, detailed how Netanyahu and Barak ordered the IDF to
raise its alert level ahead of a possible attack on Iranian nuclear
facilities in 2010, a move which drew virulent objections from both the
IDF and Mossad chiefs.
During a meeting of select senior ministers
in 2010, Netanyahu allegedly ordered the IDF to raise its state of
alert to “P-plus,” reserved for an imminent state of war, according to
the report. Netanyahu was rebuffed by then-IDF chief of staff Gabi
Ashkenazi and then-Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who said they considered the
order “illegal.”
Pressed on Monday's Channel 2 report on whether
he needs the authorization of the IDF chief of staff for a strike on
Iran, Netanyahu said "The responsibility ultimately rests with the prime
minister."
Olmert: I don't trust Barak with military issues
Netanyahu
also lent a hand to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, saying "the defense
minister and I see eye to eye on the Iranian threat."
A
significant portion of the Channel 2 report was devoted to exposing a
rare public spat between two of Israel's highest-ranking politicians,
former prime minister Ehud Olmert and Barak.
"I would very much
prefer that this large a responsibility on these subjects (such as the
Iranian nuclear program) will be in the hands of somebody else, not
his," Olmert said of his defense minister. "I want someone willing to
slam the table and say 'enough, this is what we're willing to do, this
is what we're not.'"
Barak
served as defense minister during Olmert's tenure as prime minister
from 2006 - 2009, during which the two allegedly presided over targeted
assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, as well as a bold IAF
strike on a Syrian nuclear reactor.
Barak responded: "While Olmert
is dealing with state business, for many reasons he requires
supervision. And it is important that he will have people who will
ensure that every action he takes will be though through."
Israel-US relations during Iranian nuclear development
High-ranking
officials also discussed Israel's relationship with the United States
during alleged Israeli assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. The
report quoted former US president George Bush as saying "I'm with
[Israel] the whole way, but I won't back an Israeli strike [on Iran.]"
National
Security Adviser Steven Hadley, who was also interviewed for the
program, commented on the on breadth of Israeli involvement in Iran: "In
a lot of ways our strengths are technical," he said. "The Israeli
strength is in human intelligence."
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