Gantz Says Israel Must Expand ‘Force Build-Up’ Against Iran

On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz delivered another warning about Iran. He told a graduating class at Israel’s National Defense College that said Israel must step up its military preparations over the possibility of Tehran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“Against the greatest threat — Iran arming itself with a nuclear weapon — we have no choice but to expand our force build-up, to continue to rely on our human capital and to adapt our capabilities and our plans,” Gantz said, as quoted by The Times of Israel.

Israeli officials constantly hype the threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons while simultaneously opposing a revival of the Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, which puts strict limitations on the Islamic Republic civilian nuclear program. The warnings serve to justify Israel’s military expansions and covert attacks inside Iran.

Gantz called for the Israeli government to allow the country’s armed forces to “maintain military superiority, which ensures our secure existence and advances peace.” Israeli media interpreted this comment as a reference to reports that said the Israeli Defense Forces requested additional billions in funding to prepare for potential attacks on Iran.

“All of these threats demand that we speed up and increase our preparedness to carry out our mission with an iron wall of action and not to get by with just words,” Gantz said.

The warnings about a potentially nuclear-armed Iran always leave out the context that Israel is the only state in the Middle East with nuclear weapons, so the country already has a nuclear deterrence. Israel’s nuclear arsenal is not officially declared, which is ironic considering Israel is always accusing Iran of operating a secret nuclear weapons program.