Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote a column in an American newspaper, in which he detailed his views on this subject.
October 7 marked the first anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza a conflict marked by cross-attacks and constant threats of reprisals.
On this date, in 2023, the activist group Hamas led a direct offensive against Israel which left 1,2000 dead and around 250 hostages .
From this latest issue, it appears that 101 people are still kidnapped .
Faced with the offensive, Israeli forces responded with continued attacks in the Gaza Strip, which caused more than 41,000 deaths according to local health authorities.
The possibility of a ceasefire seems distant, while The gradual increase in tensions has also involved other countries and armed groups Middle East .
Currently, IIsrael clashes with Hamas in Gaza, with Hezbollah in Lebanon, with the Houthis in Yemen, with Iran and with the Shiite militias Syria And Iraq .
Each of these parts is part of what is called Axis of resistance an alliance fueled by Iranian forces through which they provide weapons, military training and funding to their allies, it is claimed.
The main explicit objective of this network is counteract the influence of Israel and USA in the region.
Throughout the war, which has lasted for more than a year, Iran has carried out two major direct offensives against Israel .
The first was given on April 13, 2024, when its forces launched around 300 drones and missiles, in response to a bombardment against the Iranian embassy in Damascus on April 1.
The most recent attack took place on October 1, 2024, when approximately 180 missiles were launched against the territory.
The latter was presented as an act of retaliation for ground operations launched by Israel in southern Lebanon, as well as the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, end of September.
After this episode at the beginning of OctoberIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a counterattack amid a scenario in which multiple offensives and attacks carried out by different parties throughout the war threaten wider escalation in the region.
Two days before the first anniversary of the conflict, Former Israeli Defense Minister (between 2020 and 2022) and chairman of the National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, wrote a column for the New York Times .
In his writings he details a series of points that, according to the former Chief of Staff of the Defense Forces (between 2011 and 2015), “the world must understand about Iran” .
What the former Israeli defense minister said about Iran
Gantz, first of all, spoke about the events that occurred on October 7, 2023 and openly asked: “What did Hamas leaders expect and what are Iranian leaders seeking to achieve? .
The former defense minister said that Israeli military and political authorities were unable to decipher in time what would happen with said episode.
He assured that a senior commander of the Israel Defense Forces He told him at the start of the war: “The information was there, but I underestimated the jihadist component of Hamas and (Yahya) Sinwar’s calculation. » the leader of the militant group.
According to the president of the National Unity Party, “Hamas interpreted Israel’s internal instability as a weakness likely to hamper resolve and response capacity to an attack.
“Intelligence has since shown that Hamas leaders believed that where we were weakest, we would not be able to unite. “, he added.
In this sense, he accused the militant group of having planned that after the attack on October 7, the Axis allies would unite in “a regional war whose ultimate goal is to destroy the only Jewish state” .
“A secret Hamas document, allegedly discovered in Gaza, attests to this assertion: written by the Hamas leader on January 8, 2023, he claims to have received a Iran’s pledge that the Axis would join the attack on Israel once Hamas’s plan to invade Israel by flooding Al-Aqsa is activated “Gantz wrote, in lines in which he attached a link to a half Israeli in which this point is addressed.
On this point, the former Minister of Defense stressed that There are “three reasons behind the Hamas attack: jihadist fanaticism, the assessment that Israel was at a point of weakness, and loyalty to Iran and its axis.” evil. »
“It is for these reasons that October 7 and Iran’s subsequent attacks on Israel must serve as a stark warning to the region and the world about the Islamic Republic’s uncompromising intentions and its vision of the West,” Gantz suggested.
He also did an open call “that other nations do not make the same mistake as us and underestimate this component” of the calculation of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei”, the supreme leader of Iran.
What concerns Iran raises, according to former Israeli defense minister
In his column for the American newspaper, Gantz assured that Iran’s strategic alliances allowed them to build a “ring of fire” composed of a network of militias who have “capacities comparable to those of nations”.
“They have tens of thousands of rockets, drones and commandos ready to attack. . “The same capabilities with which Iran attacks Israel have been used previously by Tehran and its proxies against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen,” he said.
And to this is added, Gantz accused of wanting to develop nuclear weapons .
The Israeli government insisted on this statement and They denounce that Iran is using its civilian nuclear program for these purposes .
Nevertheless, from Tehran, they deny these accusations .
Although Israel is presumed to possess nuclear weapons, its authorities remain rather reluctant on this subject. and they never officially confirmed it.
On the other hand, according to different reports, Iran does not currently appear to possess nuclear weapons .
However, Gantz reiterated in his column for the Times that Tehran “continues to rush to acquire nuclear capabilities” secretly and openly.
“The leader of Hamas and Ayatollah Khamenei share the same ambition: to annihilate Israel” said the former Minister of Defense.
However, according to him, Iran’s supreme leader “exhibited only greater strategic patience, which led him to a different conclusion.” “this is about the right time to launch a full-scale attack” on Israel.
“Make no mistake: Iran prepares, builds and waits for the right moment weakness to attack,” Gantz warned.
Under this line he referred to parts of the so-called Axis of Resistance and He said Tehran was “using” Hezbollah in Lebanon to “exploit the state’s economic difficulties and strengthen its presence.” national”.
“He did the same in Syria, amid the devastation of the Syrian civil war. He also did it in Yemen exploiting the political vacuum and dire humanitarian conditions, and is currently expanding its reach, exploiting the instability of Africa’s Sahel region.
From the perspective of the former Israeli Defense Minister, “It is clear that Israel, and the world, must be proactive in the face of the threat that the Iranian regime poses to Israel’s existence and the future of the region.” .
“The world cannot ignore Iran’s role in stifling freedom of navigation and damaging global trade in the Red Sea or its technological and military support for Russia in Ukraine. »
“The regime and its axis must face a strong, united Middle East, led and supported by the United States, willing to take the lead to prevent the realization of the Iranian vision of a regional October 7″, he suggested in his column for the Times.
In addition to detailing a series of proposals that he said should be adopted to address the scenario in the region, He stressed that “the time has come to strengthen regional cooperation and make broad efforts to confront Iran.” .
Source: Latercera
I am Robert Harris and I specialize in news media. My experience has been focused on sports journalism, particularly within the Rugby sector. I have written for various news websites in the past and currently work as an author for Athletistic, covering all things related to Rugby news.
