We gave Ankara secret intel to thwart ISIS attacks, says Katz
As Ankara slams Israel regarding the Gaza border crisis, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel has provided secret intelligence to help Turkey prevent ISIS terrorist attacks.
Katz made the statement at an intelligence conference in Tel Aviv sponsored by the Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center and Israel Defense magazine.
The minister addressed the growing role of hi-tech in the intelligence arena, saying, “It is not enough to work on technology, we must lead in that arena.”
At the same conference, Deputy National Security Council chief Eitan Ben David said that Israel is hoping US President Donald Trump’s recent leaving the Iran nuclear deal will lead to either: 1) pressure isolating Iran globally, or 2) a better deal addressing issues of concern to Israel left out of the first one.
Ben David also discussed the dangers of Iran placing an army of Shi’ite militias in Syria and of joint Iran-Hezbollah efforts to advance the Lebanese terrorist group’s weapons capabilities.
Referring to the Russia piece of the challenge from Iran, Ben David said that Israel’s ongoing dialogue with Moscow “is of major strategic value and is very qualitative... to advance Israeli interests.”
While there is an ongoing debate as to whether Russia restrains Iran and Syria at all based on Israeli requests, after a recent Russia-Israel meeting and Israel’s striking of 50 Iranian targets in Syria, Russian officials seemed to back off from a readiness to sell Syria the advanced S-300 antiaircraft system that would complicate IDF air strikes.
Senior Defense Ministry official Zohar Palti said at the conference that Israel would not tolerate any Iranian presence in Syria, “not 20 kilometers, 30, 40” or at any distance, and that the Iranians “need to go home.”
Palti also said that Israel needed to show determination in the face of the current Gaza border crisis, since the country “cannot compromise on the security of our villages.”