Barak kept “all options” on the table, but clearly said no attack was in the works now despite much speculation in the Israeli and British media.
“We have no intention at the moment of taking action,” Barak said last Thursday in a radio interview in Israel. “But the State of Israel is far from being paralyzed by fear. It must act calmly and quietly. We don’t need big wars.”
He said, “Israel would be very glad if sanctions and diplomacy could bring the Iranian leadership to a clear decision to abandon its nuclear program. Unfortunately, I think that is not going to happen.”
Basically, what he said was that Israel doesn’t want to go to war against Iran, is not planning to do so now, but might have to do so in the future if Iran doesn’t change it nuclear policy.
He described war as “a last resort.” He said, “We don’t need unnecessary wars. But we definitely might be put to the test.”
Barak repeated that he was not awed by Iran’s threat to fire its missiles at Israel if Israel should attack. He pointed out that Iraq fired 39 missiles at Israel during the 1991 war over Kuwait and only killed a solitary Israeli. He said an Iranian attack—even one much larger than Iraq’s—would not kill even 500 Israelis.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Army announced a program to teach Farsi to a core group of talented high school students so they could go on to careers in Israeli intelligence. That suggested Israel is planning for the long haul and does not believe that Iran will have the bomb in a year or two, as many Israelis have been saying since the 1990s.