Netanyahu says Iran Intends to Destroy Israel

Larry Wilkerson says hundreds of Israeli military and intelligence leaders do not consider Iran an existential threat  March 2, 2015

Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired United States Army soldier and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson is an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary where he teaches courses on US national security. He also instructs a senior seminar in the Honors Department at the George Washington University entitled "National Security Decision Making."

Transcript

PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay.

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel spoke at the AIPAC conference in Washington, D.C. Here's a short clip from his speech.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of my address to Congress tomorrow is to speak up about a potential deal with Iran that could threaten the survival of Israel. Iran is the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Iran envelops the entire world with its tentacles of terror. This is what Iran is doing now without nuclear weapons. Imagine what Iran would do with nuclear weapons. And this same Iran vows to annihilate Israel if. It develops nuclear weapons, it would have the means to achieve that goal. We must not let that happen.

I plan to speak about an Iranian regime that is threatening to destroy Israel, that's devouring country after country in the Middle East, that's exporting terror throughout the world, and that is developing, as we speak, the capacity to make nuclear weapons--lots of them.

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JAY: This speech to AIPAC was delivered one day before Prime Minister Netanyahu is to speak to the U.S. Congress of--extremely controversial speech, as most people know by now, invited by the speaker of the House, Boehner, without the knowledge, originally, of the president of the United States, and now with his opposition to such an invitation.

Now joining us to talk about all this is Larry Wilkerson. Larry joins us from Falls Church, Virginia. He's the former chief of staff of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. He's currently an adjunct professor of government at the College of William & Mary and a regular contributor to The Real News.

Thanks for joining us again, Larry.

COL. LAWRENCE WILKERSON, FMR. CHIEF OF STAFF TO COLIN POWELL: Thanks for having me. And just in the spirit of due diligence, I'm actually in Williamsburg today.

JAY: Ah. You're in Williamsburg. Good. Thank you.

So let's first of all talk about the quote from Netanyahu. What do you make of that, Iran's plans to destroy Israel and is planning to make many nuclear weapons and so on?

WILKERSON: The first thing I would say is that the Jews living in Iran, who are quite numerous, probably wouldn't agree with that appreciation of Tehran, since they're living there quite peacefully.

I think Mr. Netanyahu, as is often the case with him, is making points for what is his ultimate aim in being in front of the Congress tomorrow on 3 March, and that is to influence a very tight election taking place in Israel, in which, of course, he is one of the candidates.

JAY: Now, his underlying message really is that we all agree Iran shouldn't have nuclear weapons, but he suggests between the lines of this speech and just about every time he does speak that President Obama's being sort of naive that he doesn't really understand what an existential threat this is and so on. There was a press conference on Sunday in Israel of former Israeli military leaders and security chiefs. What did they have to say about this?

WILKERSON: I'm in constant contact with a group that--and that's all I'll say, but it's a group that works not just with U.S. personnel, British, German, other members of the Permanent Five, and so forth, but also with Israelis, Israelis from Mossad, Israelis from the IDF, from the political structure, from other walks of life in Israel, such as business. And by and large, the opinion I see in the security complex, whether it's intelligence, military, or otherwise, is that Iran is not an existential threat. And they wish Mr. Netanyahu would stop saying that, because it puts it in a realm of different discussion, if you will, than if you just talk about it as being a threat. And they don't believe that the approach Mr. Netanyahu is taking with regard to Iran is the right one for Israel, mid-term or long-term security. They won't go as far as I will and state that this is all political opportunism to keep him in power for a fourth and unprecedented term, but there are many of them who will hint that in a corner in the dark.

JAY: Is it--you think it's just political positioning? Or does Netanyahu really want what he seems to have suggested on more than one occasion, military action to try to blow up what he says is a nuclear weapons program?

WILKERSON: That might be a tactical hope of his. And he would want the United States, of course, to do it, because Israel can't.

But let me say that, as I've said many times before, this is not really about Iran having or not having a nuclear weapon. It's about who's going to be the power in the Persian Gulf who is ultimately closest to the United States and who carries out the wishes of the United States or the wishes of the globe, for that matter, with regard to peace, stability, prosperity, and all the things, the buzzwords we normally haul out. And is it going to be Israel? Is it going to be Saudi Arabia leading the Gulf Cooperation Council? Or is it going to be Iran? And which one is the United States going to most frequently side with?

Bibi sees that any rapprochement at all between Tehran and Washington might lead to what would naturally be the case--indeed was the case for 25 years when Iran was ruled by our man, the Shah--that Iran is demographically, militarily, nationally, any aspect of power you wish to analyze, the natural hegemon in the Gulf. This is anathema to Mr. Netanyahu--and, I must say, to the Russian émigrés, to the settlers, and to others in Israel who constitute his constituency, because it means he might have to get serious about a two-state solution, about accommodating the Palestinians and then the Arabs, and then about actually seeking peace. And that is not Mr. Netanyahu's goal.

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