There is "no question" that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prepared to order a military strike on Iran if necessary, his former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror told
The Financial Times in London.
Strategist Efraim Inbar, who directs the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University,
wrote Nov. 21 that "An Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure is a risky and militarily complicated endeavor, but within reach. Israeli ingenuity and determination could lead to a great operational and political success."
Inbar said that "the number of facilities that would need to be hit to deal a significant blow to Iran's nuclear infrastructure is generally overestimated."
"At a time when appeasing Iran seems to be in vogue, an Israeli strike could invigorate elements in the international arena who are unwilling to accept an Iran with a nuclear breakout capability" and remind people that "muscular reactions to evil regimes are often truly necessary," Inbar added.
The New York Times reported that Amos Yadlin, a former Israel Air Force general and chief of military intelligence who now directs the Institute of National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said that Jerusalem needs to be ready for a military strike if sanctions peter out, leaving Iran's economy stronger and its nuclear weapons program intact.
Meanwhile, Israeli intelligence will be monitoring Iran's compliance with the Geneva deal.
The Israelis will be watching the thoroughness with which international inspectors carry out their visits of Iran's nuclear facilities, whether construction is halted at the heavy-water reactor in Arak, as required, and whether Tehran brings new centrifuges online or employs advanced centrifuges in breach of the deal.
Jonathan Spyer, a scholar at Herzliya's Interdisciplinary Center, envisages a "carefully timed injection of intelligence-derived information into the public space" in an effort by Israel to keep the next phase of the Geneva talks honest.
Israeli analysts are convinced that Iran is unalterably committed to a nuclear weapons program even if Tehran shows no intention of immediately completing the project. "I think this deal makes an Israeli strike inevitable,"
journalist and author Yossi Klein Halevi said.
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