Top Barak aide says Iran attack not imminent

Israel is unlikely to make any military moves against Iran during the High Holiday season, according to Amos Gilad, a top aide to Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

“As far as the holidays are concerned, it looks like things will be quiet, if you don’t count other kinds of events, like some crazy person or hate crimes that could set the entire world on fire,” Gilad said in a Saturday Channel 2 interview.

Gilad also played down tensions between the US and Israel regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent demand that the Obama administration draw a “red line” in regards to Iran’s nuclear weapon development, after which a military option would be triggered.

Gilad asserted that “there is no disagreement on Iran” and that Israel and the US regard the Iranian nuclear threat in the same light. “The debate is about which action to take. Israel’s main achievement is that there is a global consensus that this is a major threat that menaces world peace.”

He added that in his opinion, because the Iranians fear a military strike and further economic sanctions, they are not working at full strength to achieve a nuclear bomb.