Addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee'annual conference in DC as the highest ranking Israeli official this year, outgoing Defense Minister Ehud barak echoed Netanyahu in voicing doubt that diplomacy would stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, thus calling for a credible military threat
"Therefore, all options must remain on the table," he told AIPAC attendees Sunday evening. "We expect all those who say it to mean it. We mean it."
Barak also dismissed the myth that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root of instability in the Middle East.
“Many think that the root [of all Middle East problems] is our inability to solve the conflict with the Palestinians,” Barak said, “Well, I say it is not true.”
He explained that “even if a peace agreement with the Palestinians had been signed and sealed a long time ago,” the Muslim Brotherhood would have still come to power in Egypt, Syria would have still become mired in its bloody civil war, and Iran would still have sought nuclear weapons."
