Uzi Arad
Uzi AradFlash 90

Former National Security Adviser Uzi Arad warned on Friday against the public discourse on Iran, and slammed former senior defense officials who have publicly spoken out against attacking Iran.

According to a Channel 2 News report, Arad made the remarks in a public forum in Kfar Saba, the same forum in which former Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin recently attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Diskin called Netanyahu and Barak “messianic” and “unfit to hold the reins of power.” He added that the two “give the public a false picture on the Iran question. They create the feeling that if Israel does not act, Iran will have a nuclear bomb, even though experts think that an attack on Iran will cause it to speed up the process of arming with nuclear weapons.”

Arad criticized Diskin’s remarks, as well as those of former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who has said he does not believe a nuclear Iran would be an existential threat to Israel and also said the Netanyahu government’s policies on Iran are irresponsible, publicly warning against attacking Iran.

“Dealing with the Iranian issue is complex enough and it should not be done in public,” said Arad, hinting mainly at Dagan, who said this week that an Israeli attack on Iran will not only fail to stop its nuclear bid, but will also solve its political and economic problems.

In his remarks Arad connected the Iranian threat to the issue of peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, saying, “We need to take into account that the area won’t always be free of nuclear weapons. A nuclear state in the region will encourage Israel to negotiate and reach an agreement with the Palestinians.”

Arad also criticized Israel’s ineffectiveness at bringing about Jonathan Pollard’s release and said, “Since the creation of the State of Israel, two spies who were caught in the U.S. were executed; both were Jews. We must do everything to bring Pollard home.”

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)