Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that a credible military threat was the best way to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
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Speaking at the Hartog National Security Conference in Tel Aviv, he said, "The only thing that has credibly stopped rogue nations from developing nuclear weapons is a credible military threat or a credible military action. You can couple that with crippling economic sanctions, but that's not a sufficient condition. A necessary condition – and an often sufficient condition – is credible military action."
Video: Twitter/Prime Minister of Israel, GPO
The prime minister stressed that time was of the essence as "the longer you wait, the harder that [deterrence] becomes. We've waited very long."
Netanyahu also touched on the issue of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, which he said could "end the Arab-Israeli conflict."
"If we have the upper hand, I think we can expand the circle of peace, and if we expand the circle of peace to Saudi Arabia, I think we will actually end the Arab-Israeli conflict. This means we have to work not from the inside-out to solve the Palestinian problem," he said. "I believe that we can reach a breakthrough if the Saudi leadership decides that they want to be a part of it officially. In an unofficial way, they are already part."
Similarly, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Tuesday also stressed the importance of a credible military threat and called on the United States to step up its efforts.
Speaking at the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, he said, "If the United States does not establish a credible military threat immediately, either Israel will attack, or Iran will have a nuclear weapon, which we will not allow under any circumstance.
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"Iran is Israel's biggest challenge. They are constantly striving for a nuclear weapon…and they continuously endeavor to establish military threats against Israel, especially on our northern border, in the form of terror groups such as Hezbollah," Cohen said, adding that the nuclear threat was a time-sensitive issue as "Iran is close to 90% enrichment [of uranium]; therefore steps must be taken immediately."
The minister explained that the current government in Israel is willing to "use any means at its disposal to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons," but stressed that a hardline anti-Iranian policy from the United States might prevent the need for military escalation.
JNS.org contributed to this report.
