Addressing senior IDF officers in a military installation, Defense Minister Ehud Barak stated that if diplomatic efforts with Syria breakdown, a confrontation may result, one that might escalate to outright warfare.

The realities of the Mideast he explained dictate that after such a war, both sides would sit and work out the issues, the same issues that have been on the table for the past 15 years.

He labeled the region a “tough neighborhood,” one that does not offer “too much mercy on the weak, yet alone a second chance”. An agreement will not be implemented by the other side for as long as the other side perceives Israel as being weak, feeling Jerusalem can be driven to despair, or perhaps entrap us with a “diplomatic honey trap”.

“If the other side believe that Israel can be brought to her knees or won over with a diplomatic honey trap, such an alternative is beneficial to him”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)