By Kemo Cham
The Israel Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Roey Gilad, has said that his country prepared for its attack on Iran for a long time as part of its efforts to eliminate the threat of annihilation from the Islamic Republic.
Ambassador Gilad said Israel’s goal is to either completely destroy or at least hold back Iran’s capability of manufacturing nuclear weapon, something he said is the desire of many other nations even if they couldn’t openly state it.
“When an enemy declares very clearly that it would like to eradicate you and develop the means to do it, this is where you become (alert)… We take our enemies very seriously,” he said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Mr Gilad is the resident Ambassador of Israel in Ghana with accreditation to Sierra Leone and Liberia. He presented his credential to President Julius Maada Bio in Freetown at the beginning of June.
The Ambassador spoke to journalists from Sierra Leone and Liberia in a virtual press briefing from the Israeli embassy in Accra.
The world was taken by surprised when on Friday, June 13, the Israeli Defence Force bombed locations in Iran it claimed where nuclear sites. Iran almost immediately retaliated, leading to now six days of bombings and counter-bombings in both countries.
As at Wednesday, UN data show that over 200 people had died from Israeli bombing in Iran while the Jewish state had suffered over 20 fatalities.
Israeli officials have vowed to ensure they eliminate threat posed by Iran on their existence, with Prime Minister Natayahu reportedly calling on the US to join in their campaign against Iran.
Iran, on the other hand, said Israel had crossed the red by attacking, and the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed to ensure that Israel pay a huge price.
Iran’s response has left many people surprised by the magnitude of the damage it has caused in Israel, especial in Tel Aviv. Israel’s much talked about air defence system appears to have been overwhelmed by repeated barrage of Iranian missiles and reports have suggested that the Jewish state risks running out of its air defence capability if the Iranian strike continues.
But for Ambassador Gilad, the response of Iran didn’t come as a surprise to Israel. He said they knew from the early stage of the campaign that there would be a price on the Israeli population.
“We knew that our anti-ballistic missile is good, but it’s not perfect,” he said, noting that Israel never expected to intercept Iranian missiles 100 percent.
Gilad also accused Iran of targeting residential building, while he said Israel target military infrastructures in Iran.
While many of the casualties from Iran’s bombing have been from residential areas, according to reports, Iran has also hit many military infrastructures inside Israel.
During Thursday’s press briefing, the Israeli Ambassador projected a familiar presentation outlining the level of preparedness of Iran’s nuclear program. It claims that Iran was at 60 percent of its readiness to enrich uranium and placing it on a path to manufacture nuclear war heads.
Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed to ensure that Israel pay a huge price for attacking the Islamic Republic.
Israel considers Iran as its greatest enemy today, accusing it of seeking its end through “many proxies” around the Jewish state, from Hamas in Palestine to Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Houthis in Yemen.
But critics have accused Israel of creating all these enemies by its actions, including occupation of territories in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, against international law.
Israel, however, insists that these are all Iranian creations and funded.
Ambassador Gilad said that attacking Iran was a consensus in Israel, and that he felt it could have happened long ago.
“Since our establishment as a state in 1948, day in and day out, we have many enemies, but those enemies usually do not have the ability to really destruct the State of Israel. We have other states in the region that have the ability but do not have the wish to get rid of the state of Israel. Pakistan is a nuclear power but we have no problem with it,” Ambassador Gilad said.
Video footages recently circulated online revealed that Israel has been making this claim on Iran’s nuclear capability for decades. Prime Minister Benyamin Natanyahu has in addresses to the UN and US lawmakers repeatedly argued that Iran was close to enriching uranium, sometimes by weeks.
Shortly before the surprised attack on Iran last week, the Israeli Prime Minister again made this argument, which reports have suggested went counter to available intelligence held by the US at the time.
But Ambassador Gilad said while it relies on US and other allies for support in its efforts to counter Iranian threat, Israel doesn’t depend on the US or any other partner to make its military decisions.
“With all due respect, we don’t lean on the intelligence of the US, we don’t lean on any other intelligence, we have our intelligence. Intelligence is not science or mathematics. Intelligence have some holes here and there…,” he said.
