All efforts to stop the transfer of technology from Russia and
North Korea to Iran have failed,” said Gen. Ephraim Sneh,
Israel’s new minister of transportation. “What we have
to do is see beyond the horizon—heed the warnings from the
United States and other allied countries—about missile and
enemy activities,” he said.
Addressing the threats of terrorism and the development of chemical,
biological, nuclear and ballistic missiles by Iran and Iraq is top
priority for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), according to Sneh,
who, in former Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s administration,
served as deputy minister of defense. Sneh, originally trained as
a medical doctor, has been in the Knesset as a member of the Labor
Party since 1992. He spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee conference in Washington, D.C.
Several concerns complicate Israel’s defense posture in the
Middle East region, said Sneh. First, the guerilla war occurring
in the West Bank and Gaza is a low-intensity conflict where individuals
frequently aim to carry out “spectacular terrorist operations,”
he said. Additional defense personnel are needed in this area to
protect the 200,000 Israeli’s who commute from the West Bank
and Gaza, and to protect isolated settlements, he said. However,
“We need to have even better shielding for both the soldiers
and the settlers,” he said, so reserve military service will
soon be increased. “The price tag of this operation is $250
million,” he said.
Additionally, there is the danger of resumption of terrorist activities
resuming on the northern Lebanese border. “There is a potential
for penetration of the Lebanese border from the Hebron mountains
all the way to the sea,” Sneh said. He said that Lebanon’s
weapons have been procured from Iran, and warned that “some
of the weapons in Lebanon’s arsenal are state-of-the-art.”
Sneh explained that Iran has deployed missiles in Southern Lebanon
which are targeted at both small settlements and larger Israeli
cities. “These missiles have a longer range than ever before,”
he said. “These are like the Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba
in 1962.”
The reality is that Israel is behind other Arab countries in its
modernization efforts, said Sneh. “Most of our logistics were
procured in 1975 or 1976. The equipment is not rusty, but it is
aged,” Sneh said. Sneh noted that the Israeli Air Force still
flies the F-4 Phantom, a Vietnam War-era aircraft.
Another concern is Iraq’s and Iran’s fast-moving development
of nuclear and ballistic missile weapons of mass destruction aimed
at Israel, he explained. “Currently, Iran’s weapons
have the range of 800 miles. In five years, they will have a 3,000-mile
range.”
Since Israel depends on the United States for foreign assistance
for defense operations, the Israeli government supports programs
of mutual interest such as missile defense. Sneh noted that the
Arrow anti-tactical ballistic missile system “must be upgraded
and there must be more units produced. The U.S. and Israel must
continue to work on it together and export it together,” he
said. Because Israel’s defense shield has been developed and
produced in the U.S., most of America’s foreign assistance
dollars to Israel are spent in this country, Sneh said.