We knew all along, says Israel
Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech confirmed what Israel already knew.
“We in Israel have known this for a long time,” Netanyahu said. “We’ve shared this intelligence with the United States, and I think the United States has shared some of that today, and its own intelligence, with the world.”
Netanyahu said that Powell “laid bare the true nature of Saddam Hussein’s regime, and I think he also exposed the great dangers that emanate from this regime to the region and to the world.”
Amos Malka, former chief of Israeli military intelligence, said the Powell speech starts the clock running toward a US led attack “in days, not yet in hours.”
In 1991, under stiff U.S. pressure, Israel did not retaliate for the Iraqi missile strikes.
Asked what Israel would do this time, Netanyahu said, “Israel reserves the natural right, I would say the obligation, to protect its citizens, and we shall know how to protect our citizens.”
