IDF Chiefs: Nuclear Deal Could Enhance Israel’s Security Position

by Eli Clifton
Published on May 27th, 2015 | http://www.lobelog.com/idf-chiefs-nuclear-deal-could-enhance-israels-security-position/#more-29401
Iran poses an existential threat to Israel and is the biggest security concern for the Jewish state. This mantra is constantly repeated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, congressional opponents of the White House’s Iran diplomacy, and Republican presidential hopefuls, several of whom have been competing to stake out the most extreme policy positions vis-à-vis Iran.
But one key group of experts doesn’t buy into that threat assessment: namely, the heads of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The Forward’s J.J. Goldberg reported on Tuesday that:

Israel’s military General Staff and intelligence services are in the midst of a series of formal discussions focused on just the opposite assumption: the likelihood that the emerging nuclear agreement between Iran and the major powers could minimize the Iranian threat for an extended period, allowing the military to redirect budgets and resources toward areas of more immediate concern. The discussions are chaired by the deputy chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Major General Yair Golan, under the supervision of the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot.

And what does keep the IDF awake at night? “[The] likelihood of renewed flare-ups within the next few years with the heavily armed Islamist militias on Israel’s northern and southern borders, Hezbollah and Hamas,” reports Goldberg.http://www.lobelog.com/idf-chiefs-nuclear-deal-could-enhance-israels-security-position/#more-29401