'Israel Will Have To Attack Iran'*

by Shauna Naghi

(IsraelNN.com) The time will come that Israel will have to defend itself
and attack Iran to stop it from becoming a nuclear power, Knesset Member
Effie Eitam has warned.

Speaking recently at the town of Beit El in Samaria, he declared,
"Israel has the right and the ability to defend itself and that day is
around the corner" but expressed confidence that the United States would
stand by Israel. He said the Iranian threat is very real. "There is no
exaggeration and we should not underestimate that cloud which hangs over
the State of Israel."

MK Eitam, a decorated hero in the Yom Kippur War, commander in the Gaza
region during the first Intifada and an officer in the daring 1976
Entebbe rescue mission of Israeli hostages in Uganda, maintained that
Israel cannot rely only its military strength. Power by itself will not
end the threat that Israel faces in maintaining its true strength of  
"morals and principals [that] lie in its Jewish identity," he said. "The
ultimate solution is education, awareness [and] lifestyle of how Jews
should be and live as individuals, as communities and as a state."

Reflecting his strong position on the place of Israel for Jews, he
declared, "Israel is not a state of the Israelis. It is a state of the
Jewish people."

Israel is not a state of the Israelis. It is a state of the Jewish people.

His military career was highlighted with his receiving the Medal of
Distinguished Service during the Yom Kippur War, when he and his
sergeant stopped Syrian tanks in the Golan Heights and later rescued
wounded comrades. He retired from active service in the IDF in 2001 and
the following year started his political career as chairman of the
National Religious Party, which ran in the last general elections with
the National Union party.

MK Eitam bitterly opposed the expulsion of Jews in Gush Katif, where he
moved with his family to reinforce the will of the Jewish communities
there.