Israeli spymaster: Be 'prepared' to attack

Israeli spymaster: Be 'prepared' to attack
Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:30:08


Shabtai Shavit
Former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit says Israel should be ready to attack if sanctions fail to sway Iran to renounce its nuclear program.

“As an intelligence officer working with the worst case scenario, I can tell you we should be prepared, we should do whatever necessary on the defensive side, on the offensive side, on the public opinion side for the West, in case sanctions don't work,” Shabtai Shavit told the Sunday Telegraph.

“What's left is a military action,” he continued.

Israel has stepped up its rhetoric against Iran and is said to be preparing its public for a war against the oil-rich Islamic Republic.

The New York Times quoted Pentagon officials last week as saying that over 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighter jets staged a maneuver over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece between May 28 and June 12.

As part of the maneuver, Israeli jets flew over 900 miles, roughly the distance from their airfields to a nuclear enrichment facility in the central Iranian city of Natanz.

On June 6, Israeli deputy prime minister Shaoul Mofaz told the Yediot Aharonot that Tel Aviv would attack Iran if the country did not halt its nuclear activities.

In his comments to the Sunday Telegraph, the former Mossad chief also warned that American approval was not a necessary pre-requisite for Israel to carry out an air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

"When it comes to decisions that have to do with our national security and our own survival, at best we may update the Americans that we are intending or planning or going to do something," Shavit said.

MT/MR/GM