ISRAEL’s former chief of intelligence agency has called the country’s leaders ‘unfit’ to tackle the Iranian nuclear program guided, he claimed, by ‘messianic feelings.’
Yuval Diskin, Israel’s former domestic intelligence chief, said: “”I have no faith in the prime minister, nor in the defence minister.”
Diskin stepped down as head of the Shin Bet a year ago. The speech was partly broadcast by Israel Radio on Saturday.
“I really don’t have faith in a leadership that makes decisions out of messianic feelings,” he said in the speech.
The catastrophic terms with which Netanyahu and Barak describe the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran have stirred concern in Israel and abroad of a possible strike against a uranium enrichment program Iran says has peaceful ends.
Although Israel has threatened a pre-emptive strike if diplomacy fails, some experts believe that could be a bluff to keep up pressure on Iran, making it harder to interpret the swirl of comments from the security establishment, reports said.
Recently Israel’s military chief, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz had said Iran was ‘very rational’ and unlikely to build a bomb in the face of world opposition.
Diskin appeared even more damning of Netanyahu and Barak, who have often crafted strategy alone and whose relationship dates back to service in an elite commando unit four decades ago, Reuters said.
The former head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence service, Meir Dagan, has ridiculed the idea of a strike on Iran.
Diskin, who spoke on Friday, said he was not necessarily opposed to Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites pre-emptively, though he cited experts who argue that such an action might backfire by accelerating Tehran’s quest for a bomb. Yet going to war was not a job for Netanyahu, a second-term premier, nor Barak, Israel’s most decorated soldier, Diskin said. “I have seen them up close,” he said.
“They are not people who I personally, at least, trust to be able to lead Israel into an event on such a scale, and to extricate it,” he added.
A Netanyahu deputy, Silvan Shalom, reacted strongly to the former spymaster’s comments. He told Israelis that democratic process guided the government strategy.
“Not everyone thinks the same thing. This is not a decision that would be made by two people,” he told Israel Radio.
“Ultimately, with all due respect to everyone, the one who is more important on this matter is the military chief of staff,” Shalom said.
The Don Davis column: Dateline Israel
