Expert’s Iran warning

A NUCLEAR Iran would be a real threat to Israel’s existence, counter-terrorism expert Dr Matthew Levitt (above) said in Sydney this week.

American Dr Levitt, a regular visitor to these shores, was in Australia to teach part of a counter-terrorism course for the Australian Federal Police, but took time out of his schedule to address an Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council forum.

He said it was not correct to assume there was no likelihood of Iran using nuclear weapons or providing them to terrorist groups. “Likelihood is a question mark, and if you’re sitting in Israel, that question mark can’t be comfortable,” he said.

“For all of the terror — Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Fatah, Hezbollah — they do not pose an existential threat to Israel.

“I believe, personally, Israel only faces two existential threats: one is from demographics, one is from an Iranian nuclear weapon.”

Dr Levitt noted the aggression with which Iran uses its proxies, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, to affect foreign policy goals as a means of projecting power.

“What Iran wants to do is project power well beyond its borders and to do so aggressively,” he said. “If you think of all those activities and how aggressive they are now, then try and imagine what they’d be like as nuclear power.”

GARETH NARUNSKY