He was considered a hawk.
His Op-Ed appeared in the left-of-center daily, Ha'aretz.
This is spooky stuff.
From The Nation (Pakistan):
Israel will be compelled to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities by this November unless the US and its allies enact “crippling sanctions that will undermine the regime in Tehran,” a former Israeli defence official warns.Here are some of the points Sneh raised in the Op-Ed:
In an Op-Ed in the Israeli left-wing daily, Haaretz, former deputy defence minister Brig-Gen Ephraim Sneh argues that Iran will probably have “a nuclear bomb or two” by 2011. “An Israeli military campaign against Iran’s nuclear installations is likely to cripple that country’s nuclear project for a number of years. The retaliation against Israel would be painful, but bearable,” he said.
Sneh believes that the “acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran during Obama’s term would do him a great deal of political damage,” but that the damage to Obama resulting from an Israeli strike on Iran “would be devastating.” November is the time for elections in the United States.
Nevertheless, he writes, “for practical reasons, in the absence of genuine sanctions, Israel will not be able to wait until the end of next winter, which means it would have to act around the congressional elections in November, thereby sealing Obama’s fate as president.” Sneh says he does not foresee any U.S. military strikes on Iran. In a recent report for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), military analyst Anthony Cordesman concluded that Israel will have to use low-yield earth-penetrating nuclear weapons if it wants to take out deeply-buried nuclear sites in Iran.
“Israel is reported to possess a 200 kilogram nuclear warhead containing 6 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium that could be mounted on the sea launched cruise missiles and producing a Yield of 20 kilo tons,” Cordesman writes in the CSIS study he co-authored by Abdullah Toukan.
When friends are mad at you
...4. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in accordance with his strong beliefs on this matter, cannot allow himself to be the leader on whose watch Iran acquires nuclear weapons.With the President of Iran casually threatening to wipe Israel off the map, the top theocrat, Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in January predicted the destruction of Israel.
5. In the absence of "crippling sanctions" that will undermine the regime in Tehran, it is reasonable to assume that by 2011 Iran will have a nuclear bomb or two.
6. An Israeli military campaign against Iran's nuclear installations is likely to cripple that country's nuclear project for a number of years. The retaliation against Israel would be painful, but bearable.
7. U.S. President Barack Obama would find it difficult, if only for internal political reasons, to take military action against Iran and thereby open a new theater for war, in addition to Iraq and Afghanistan.
8. The acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran during Obama's term would do him a great deal of political damage. The damage that the resulting independent Israeli strike would cause Obama - soaring gasoline prices and American casualties in retaliatory operations - would be devastating.
9. For practical reasons, in the absence of genuine sanctions, Israel will not be able to wait until the end of next winter, which means it would have to act around the congressional elections in November, thereby sealing Obama's fate as president....MORE
Now Sneh offhandedly saying war by November.
Serious business.
