David Ben-Gurion established the Israeli intelligence community in June of 1948, just three weeks after the establishment of Israel and in the midst of war. Ronen Bergman More Quotes by Ronen Bergman More Quotes From Ronen Bergman This is the primary Israeli fear, they are afraid at the end of the day, if negotiations fail, Israel would be left alone to make the call -- whether to contain an Iranian nuclear capability or to make the call on the strike. Ronen Bergman politics This is a severe strategic threat to the variety of options that the national security of Israel stands upon, they want to have the bomb in order not to use it. They want to position themselves as a regional superpower and this would give them a nuclear umbrella over their heads. Ronen Bergman politics I just returned from the Munich Security Conference where I met with some very senior U.S. officials, the way they describe it they are ballistic about Netanyahu. This mindset is common wall-to-wall in all corridors of the [U.S.] administration; the Armed Service Committee, the intelligence community, the State Department, the Defense Department. I heard only one thing, and that is that this shouldn’t happen. Ronen Bergman latest-headlines The first to grasp how sensitive Israeli public opinion was on the issue of hostages and M.I.A.'s - and therefore what a powerful weapon abduction could be - was Ahmed Jibril, the leader of a faction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Ronen Bergman how opinion powerful leader A country, people, and society are in a sorry state when the guardians of its democratic values and the rule of law are the officers of the armed forces who are forced to stand up to the mob and the politicians who incite it and kowtow to it. Ronen Bergman society law sorry people I'm the son of two Holocaust survivors. As a child, I heard from one of my parents' best friends about living through Mengele's infamous selection process at Auschwitz. He haunted my nightmares. Ronen Bergman parents best friends son Israel's decision on whether to strike or not is dictated not from the atmosphere and not from American or European promises but is based on the Iranian project. And I don't think the Iranians would agree to anything that would satisfy Israel. Ronen Bergman promises american think decision In addition to closed-circuit TV systems and the ability to track cellphone and computer users, advanced biometric identification systems and online coordination across borders are becoming more and more widespread. Ronen Bergman more online ability borders Many casinos in the United States already use facial recognition software to identify undesirables, apparently with a fair degree of success. Ronen Bergman degree recognition software success The problem is that the same technological tools we use to thwart terrorists can also be used against the people whose job it is to stop them. Ronen Bergman stop job problem people The command-and-control systems, the war rooms, the methods of information gathering, and the technology of the pilotless aircraft, or drones, that now serve the Americans and their allies were all, in large part, developed in Israel. Ronen Bergman information technology gathering war I think that Netanyahu is a bit intimidated of and afraid of President Trump. Ronen Bergman i-think afraid think president I have covered the secret war that Israeli and American intelligence have waged against Iran's nuclear program and Iran's assistance to jihadi movements in the Middle East, since the mid-'90s. Ronen Bergman american intelligence secret war When something is presented as an existential threat, it is very easy to scare the Israelis. Ronen Bergman something very existential easy For years, I have been writing that ultimately, if nothing else stops the Iranian nuclear project, such as the sanctions or a change in the regime in Tehran, then Israel itself will take action to destroy it from the air. Ronen Bergman nothing change action writing Throughout the 1990s, Israel and the United States devoted vast resources to weakening the nuclear links between Russia and Iran and applied enormous diplomatic pressure on Russia to cut off the relationship. Ronen Bergman russia israel pressure relationship For years, Israeli and American intelligence agencies assumed that if Iran were to gain the ability to build a bomb, it would be a result of its relationship with Russia, which was building a nuclear reactor for Iran at a site called Bushehr and had assisted the Iranians in their missile-development program. Ronen Bergman intelligence building relationship Israel's discourse with the United States on the subject of Iran's nuclear project is more significant, and more fraught, than it is with Europe. The U.S. has made efforts to stiffen sanctions against Iran and to mobilize countries like Russia and China to apply sanctions in exchange for substantial American concessions. Ronen Bergman project american more like Israelis cannot enter Iran, so Israel, Iranian officials believe, has devoted huge resources to recruiting Iranians who leave the country on business trips and turning them into agents. Ronen Bergman leave business believe country Generally speaking, Israeli intelligence did not hunt Nazi war criminals. Ronen Bergman did intelligence criminals war
