Israel and the United States are building a Middle East Aerial Defense alliance, Defense Minister Benny Gantz revealed Monday in a briefing with members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Gantz added the alliance has already thwarted Iranian attempts at attacks.
“From an operational standpoint and in terms of urgency, the biggest challenge that we face, is the Iranian threat,” he said, adding that in recent months, Israel has seen two “significant achievements” bringing the international community together to face the Iranian threat.
The first achievement, he said, was in keeping the IRGC on the ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ (FTO) list of terror organizations.
The second was the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) condemnation of Iran regarding its noncompliance with investigations and inspections.
“These issues demonstrate once again that Iran is not a partner, and in order to achieve a nuclear agreement that will push Iran back from its ambitions, the entire world, led by our friend the United States, must employ political, economic and military pressure,” Gantz said.
“As such, over the past year I have been leading an extensive program together with my partners at the Pentagon and in the US administration, that will strengthen the cooperation between Israel and countries in the region.”
Gantz said he hopes to “take another step forward in this aspect” during President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to the region.
“The first element of this vision is the ‘MEAD’ alliance that we are building – the ‘Middle East Air Defense Alliance’ — in the face of Iran’s attempts to attack the region’s countries using rockets, cruise missiles and UAVs. This program is already operative and has already enabled the successful interception of Iranian attempts to attack Israel and other countries,” he said.
“We are also currently dealing with Iran’s attempts to carry out attacks on Israelis abroad, particularly those located in Turkey. I call on Israeli citizens to follow the defense establishment’s instructions.”
At the same time, Gantz said he has instructed the defense establishment to “prepare for a powerful response” in the event that any threat materializes. “We have a variety of options at our disposal – and any harm to Israeli citizens will lead us to employ these means,” he warned.
Gantz noted that Israel is currently strengthening its ties with Turkey, and said the current security threat to Israelis in the country “is an opportunity to express our appreciation to our Turkish colleagues, and to additional security organizations around the world who work with us to ensure the security of the citizens of Israel.”
