Hebrew → English transcript

On Sukkot, I spoke about the need to prepare for a defensive posture against Iran.

I was attacked and criticized from all sides. But what a surprise, yesterday I read

in the newspapers that a prime minister asked

President Trump to delay

an attack on Iran because

we are not prepared defensively. That is what happens when a

leader is late to catch on.

But even now, even now, we need

to understand that we are still not on the right track.

And when you waste time on your preparations, afterward you pay a heavy price.

I do not want

to go into too much detail here,

it is impossible to go into too much detail, I can only give you one example.

And clearly the Iranians went for the strategic targets of the State of Israel.

What we saw in the war“ Im K’Lavi,” an attack,

a severe hit on the Weizmann Institute. Beyond the extensive destruction,

the Iranians also managed

to destroy a lab and all the accumulated research, all the data,

all the findings of decades. You cannot evacuate all

the strategic targets, but some

systems you must prepare

for evacuation at immediate notice. Beyond that,

I look at what has happened since

The war" Am- Kol- Lavi" until today. In his latest report, I think from January,

the State Comptroller notes

that in the State of Israel, more than three million people lack proper protection.

In the last war, half a million students studied in

schools without proper protection. And I ask, what has happened

since the end of the war, the war" Am- Kol- Lavi" until today?

How many protected rooms have we added? And the last point, regarding our

preparedness for the future.

I also think here

that both the defense establishment and the

diplomatic establishment are making a huge mistake, a colossal mistake.

When I read that they are debating which new squadron

to purchase, I say,

Where do you live?

Instead of another squadron,

you must establish a missile corps as quickly as possible. I look at the last two

wars that are still ongoing,

partly and partly have taken place.

The Azerbaijan- Armenia war and today the Russia- Ukraine war.

Ninety percent of all the fighting and all

the decisive blows are carried out with missiles, UAVs, and drones.

This is no longer the Yom Kippur

War, with tanks clashing iron against iron, huge battles.

In Sinai, and that is not even the air force. And I am telling you,

we have the best air force in the world. But together with the air force,

we saw the power

of all the Iranian ballistic missiles.

All the" Emad 1" and" Shahab 3"

and" Khorramshahr" and so on.

We know that since the end of the war until today, the Iranians

have worked hard to increase their entire stock

of ballistic missiles, including MIRVs and a maneuvering missile.

So therefore I think that right now the direction is simply

the wrong direction. The direction, and I suggest,

and I call on the defense establishment again to reexamine all the basic

assumptions and all the preparations,

both in the immediate term and in the longer term. Thank you.