Possible Israeli Involvement in Iran Nuclear Facility Explosions

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was reported by Reuters as being interviewed recently about possible Israeli involvement in the two major explosions in Iranian nuclear facilities. Barak is one of many legends of the nation of Israel. He was a key operator in many missions of the Israeli army in his career In particular; he played a major role in the unbelievably successful rescue mission of Israeli hostages on Uganda in 1976. As Prime Minister, he offered so many concessions to the PLO in an attempt to achieve peace (including a joint Israeli-Palestinian administration of East Jerusalem) that even though these proved unsuccessful, few could pretend to argue thereafter that Yasser Arafat and the PLO were serious about ending the decades-long conflict. (Without demonstrating an utter lack of honesty or credibility) Arafat and his boys had been put in a position where they were unable to avoiding showing that they never wanted peace. They could not even come up with a counter-offer without running the risk of it being accepted by Barak, so they simply, Soviet Union SALT talks-style walked away from negotiations. For those who are too young to recall the nuclear weapons reduction negotiations between the US and the USSR, the Soviets would walk out on the pretext of being unable to agree on such difficult issues such as arranging dates for meetings.

In the interview Barak was asked if a "clandestine war" of Israel and the US/US allies was behind the explosions. His answers left much to chew on. One was "I don't think so". Another was "I think that the answer to your questions is negative". Coming from a Defense Minister, who would likely be somewhat aware if his nation's military or agents had been involved in the events that killed several and probably at least set the Iranian program back for some time, it appears that there is a good chance that Mossad did indeed attack or otherwise sabotage the facilities. As far as I am concerned, any amount of time that Iran has lost in achieving a deployable nuclear weapon is worth the effort.

Barak also strongly noted that the UN or the test of the developed world must do more to pressure Iran to drop the program. He stated that "...sanctions have to be intensified, quick, determined.... and therefore everyone is saying that no option should be taken off the table". One could easily draw the conclusion that he was indicating that Israel was getting fed up with the world dragging its feet with Iran, that yes, we did take steps on our own, and that we will continue to do so unless you do something about it.

Israel does not have the time or luxury of being too far away from Iran to wait for the world to step up and do its job. If the UN or other nations that have the ability to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program continue to vacillate, then Israel is not going stand idle.