IDF GEN. AMIR ESHEL: ‘RUSSIAN S-300 ANTIAIRCRAFT SYSTEM CAN BE CRACKED’.
Iran following North Korea’s example…
It’s incredible – they just can’t seem to help it. Both Iran and North Korea simply won’t let US President Barack Obama get away with concluding another bogus nuclear agreement. The most glaring is Pyongyang. According to the Wall Street Journal, China believes the North Koreans may already have produced an arsenal of twenty nuclear warheads. Previously, American experts estimated the North Koreans had acquired only 10 to 16 A-Bombs. Some American sources warn North Korea may step up its production to reach some 100 atomic warheads by 2020. This is the sorry result of former President Bill Clinton’s nuclear deal with Pyongyang in 1994 that had all the trappings of a similar accord that Obama is now seeking to conclude with the Iranians by the end of June. It looks as if the Iranians are using the North Koreans’ game plan that led the US down the garden path.
It gets worse. It so happens that earlier this month US Admiral William Gortney, head of Northern Command, told the House Committee of Foreign Affairs that his officials believe Iran can now mount a nuclear warhead on their ICBM called KN-08 that may have a range of 5,600 miles. In other words, North Korean crackpot Kim Jong Un may already have, or be on the way, to acquiring nuclear inter-continental ballistic missiles capable of targeting California! I know nothing about America’s ICBM defense system and I don’t want to sound facetious but maybe Obama should consider checking out Israel’s Arrow 3 defense missiles that are designed to intercept incoming ICBMs. After all, American military aid is financing Israel’s development of the Arrow defense system.
North Korea is an ally and mentor of Iran and is known to have aided Iran’s missile and probably nuclear weapons development.
As for the Israeli connection, North Korea is an ally and mentor of Iran and is known to have aided Iran’s missile and probably nuclear weapons development. (According to foreign sources, North Korea was also building a secret nuclear reactor for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad that was bombed by Israeli aircraft in 2007). But one has to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see that Tehran is following in Pyongyang footsteps to forge a similar accord with Washington. And despite Obama’s rhetoric, the US President’s mantra that there is no other solution has actually been refuted by Gen. Martin Dempsey, his own Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff who has said he does have a military option.
Obama’s defense of a deal, that will grant Iran nuclear weapons if they are patient for another ten years, is reminiscent of the Japanese parody of the three ‘wise’ monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil nor speak no evil when it comes to the American President’s approach to Iran. This despite the fact that Obama has ordered U.S. Navy vessels, including an aircraft carrier to the waters off the coast of Yemen, where Iran has aided the Houthi rebels in overthrowing the regime and possibly threatening the strategic strait of Bab al Mandeb. The concern is that Iranian Naval ships may be transporting advanced weapons to the rebels in Yemen who are fighting a war with Sunni Arab forces led by Saudi Arabia. But if the Islamist regime is so pugnacious without A-Bombs, what can be anticipated if they are ever allowed to get them?
Obama as Faust…
Even Obama has admitted that in 10 years time… Iran will be just ‘one inch from the goal line’
The recent Lausanne deal may lead to a ‘Faustian bargain with Tehran’. That’s the assessment of Stephen Rademaker, a former nuclear arms control adviser to President George W. Bush. (Faust was the main character in Goethe’s epic poem about a man who sold his soul to the devil after death in return for magical powers during his lifetime). Rademaker contends that the Lausanne understandings actually signified the international community’s acceptance of Iran as a nuclear weapons threshold state. On April 22, in Vienna, the great powers and Iran resumed discussions on a final accord to be wrapped up by June 30. Even Obama has admitted that in 10 years time, as Rademaker puts it, Iran will be just ‘one inch from the goal line’ (of building A-Bombs). For all practical purposes Iran would have to be then treated as if they did have nuclear weapons. And he concluded this will be ‘a classic Faustian bargain’. In other words, Obama is opting to gain some quiet now and let someone else pay later.
Israel Air Force plan for attacking Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities…
How serious is Israel about striking Iran’s nuclear facilities if Tehran cons Obama and is allowed to continue its drive for eventually acquiring nuclear weapons? This is the reply of Israel Air Force commander Gen. Amir Eshel, who will implement the order if it is ever given:
“We presented a detailed plan for attacking Iran but the political echelon did not order us to implement it.”
It is generally known that several years ago, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and the then Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the IDF to plan such an operation, and that Israel’s Air Force has been training for such an eventuality. But this was the first time a senior Israeli officer confirmed that all systems are ready to go. But what of the advanced Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles that President Vladimir Putin has decided to send to Iran? Would they not pose a dangerous or even prohibitive threat to Israeli aircraft flying on such a dangerous mission? Israel’s top pilot responded:
Indeed the S-300 system would pose an operational challenge … but is not impossible to overcome. It’s not as if the S-300 is entirely new for us. On the other hand, the S-300 will make Iran more provocative and aggressive because it will believe it is well protected.
“Indeed the S-300 system would pose an operational challenge but such challenges can be cracked and such a challenge is not impossible to overcome. It’s not as if the S-300 is entirely new for us. On the other hand, the S-300 will make Iran more provocative and aggressive because it will believe it is well protected.” (News reports indicate that Moscow has decided not to supply the S-300 in the near future).
In his rare interview with Channel 10 TV on Independence Day, Gen. Eshel left little doubt his pilots could take out Iran’s nuclear weapons bases. He also disclosed that the Israeli Air Force recently completed a major exercise to speed up the ‘turn-around’ time for refueling and rearming aircraft and getting them back into the air in case of an outbreak of war. This would be critical in the face of future warfare – the objective would be to attack many targets within a short period of time. Not only Iran but also Hezbollah in southern Lebanon was on his mind.
The Iranian proxy is estimated to have been rearmed with some 100,000 rockets and missiles aimed at the Jewish State – this under the noses of the UN monitoring force of UNIFIL that was tasked with preventing it. These weapons and their launchers have been stored inside Lebanese towns and villages and the IAF’s commander warned there would be no choice but to bomb them, if Hezbollah started launching rockets into Israel as it has repeatedly done in the past. And yes, Gen. Eshel has also prepared to take on Islamic State if its fighters threaten Israel from Syria. The highly respected fighter pilot, who has completed his three-year stint as Air Force commander, has had his term extended for another year – obviously due to the tension over Iran. What after that? Would he be in the running to become IDF Chief of Staff one day? With a fighter pilot’s panache, Gen. Eshel retorted to his interviewer:
‘Look at all these top flight senior officers around you on this airbase – I believe many of them have what it takes to become Chief of Staff!’
New rocketing from Gaza…
Israel’s message was clear- she holds Hamas responsible for maintaining quiet in Gaza and will not acquiesce in the sliding back to the rocketing of Israeli civilians that flared into the 50 days of fighting last summer.
Near the end of Independence Day, the sirens again wailed in Israeli communities along the Gaza border sending civilians racing for their bomb shelters. A loud explosion rocked the village of Shaar Yeshuv, but there were no casualties or damage. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and the new IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Gadi Eizenkot held urgent consultations – meanwhile the Hamas government in Gaza conveyed a message to Israel that a ‘rogue’ organization and not its members had launched the rocket. Several hours later, several Israeli tanks fired retaliatory shells into Gaza – there were no Palestinian casualties or damage. Israel’s message was clear- she holds Hamas responsible for maintaining quiet in Gaza and will not acquiesce in the sliding back to the rocketing of Israeli civilians that flared into the 50 days of fighting last summer. For the last four months, the Gaza border has been quiet once again illustrating that if there are no attacks from Gaza then Israel will have no reason to fire back.
