ISRAEL:IN AN uncharacteristically blunt statement on a highly sensitive topic, a senior Israeli minister yesterday warned Iran that if it attacked Israel, it would draw an Israeli response that would spell the "end" of Iran.
"An Iranian attack against Israel would trigger a tough reaction that would lead to the destruction of the Iranian nation," said national infrastructure minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer during a meeting at his ministry.
"Iranians are aware of our strength but continue to provoke us by arming their Syrian allies and Hizbullah," added Mr Ben-Eliezer, a former defence minister and a member of prime minister Ehud Olmert's inner security cabinet.
Like the US, Israel believes Iran's nuclear programme is not for civilian purposes as Tehran claims, but is aimed at building a nuclear bomb. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe Israel off the map and Israeli leaders have said that "all options" are open in denying Iran a nuclear capability.
Mr Ben-Eliezer, however, said Israel's deterrent capability made it unlikely Iran would attack, because it understood "the meaning of such an act". While Israel has never admitted to having a nuclear capability, it is believed to possess one.
Amid fears of a non-conventional attack, Israeli leaders decided last week to redistribute gas masks to the population. Gas masks distributed during the US invasion of Iraq four years ago have been collected over the last year because their use-by date had expired.
Mr Ben-Eliezer's comments came amid a five-day home front exercise that includes the simulation of a massive missile attack on Israel from Syria, Hizbullah in south Lebanon and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
The biggest emergency drill of its kind also includes simulated attacks with non-conventional missiles and the sounding of a siren across the country this morning, during which school children will head for reinforced shelters.
In light of recent tensions with Syria, Israeli leaders have emphasised that the drill is aimed purely at checking the readiness of the various emergency services in Israel in the event of an attack and that Israel has no belligerent intentions.
"The Syrians know they have no reason to interpret this drill in any other way," Mr Olmert said on Sunday.
Israel came under Scud missile attack from Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. During the Lebanon war in the summer of 2006, northern Israel came under daily rocket and missile fire from Hizbullah guerillas based in south Lebanon.
Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, militants in the coastal strip have targeted communities in the south with rockets.
Mr Ben-Eliezer said Israel could face a situation in which Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are hit by hundreds of missiles. "Nowhere would be safe from Syrian and Hizbullah rockets," he said.