Yesterday, 15 years ago, on the night between September 5 and 6, 2007, Operation "Outside the Box" was launched to destroy the nuclear reactor in Syria. The Israeli Air Force attacked the nuclear reactor, which was in advanced stages of construction in the Deir ez-Zor area in Syria - and destroyed it.
The destruction of the reactor removed a very significant strategic threat to the security of the State of Israel.
Yesterday, September 6, 2022, against the background of the emerging nuclear agreement with Iran, the country's president Yitzhak Herzog spoke on the stage of the German Bundestag and read: "The State of Israel will defend itself and will fight in every way the threats against it and its citizens. I call on the entire world not to stand by."
To the sound of excited applause, President Herzog addressed the President of Germany, the German Chancellor and members of parliament and said: "Here, from this important stage in Berlin, I call on the family of nations to act decisively and firmly.
"Threats and actions to destroy Israel are unthinkable. The possession of weapons of mass destruction by a UN member state that calls every day for the destruction of another UN member state is simply unthinkable.
Herzog in his speech.
"The international community must stand on the right side of history", photo: GettyImages
Herzog in his speech.
"Threats and actions to destroy Israel are unacceptable", photo: GettyImages
"The guideline should be clear: those who deny the Holocaust, those who practice hatred and aggression, those who threaten the right of the State of Israel to exist - are not entitled to sign agreements that only strengthen it, are not entitled to benefits or funds, are not entitled to concessions under any circumstances.
"The international community must stand on the right side of history - set clear conditions, impose harsh and necessary sanctions, create an impassable buffer between Iran and nuclear capability, take action and not give up."
Herzog is received in Berlin,
can protect ourselves
Not coincidentally, President Yitzhak Herzog draws a line between the threat that faced the State of Israel in 2007 and that of 2022. On the night of the reactor attack, he served as a minister in the 31st government led by Ehud Olmert and as a member of the political-security cabinet.
In the joint and exciting flight of the President of the State of Israel with the President of Germany Frank Walter Steinmeier in the presidential plane to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, the two discussed at length the German responsibility, the agenda in the country affected by the consequences of the Holocaust and its lessons, and the shared view of the future of Israel which may have a profound effect on the security of the country.
The presidents of Germany and Israel, photo: AFP
The President of the State told German President Steinmeier about the feverish discussions in the 2007 cabinet led by Olmert, on the eve of launching the operation to attack the Syrian reactor, about the assessments of the security establishment that were found to be reliable, and finally that the State of Israel was forced to determine its own fate on its own.
The Syrian reactor after its bombing.
"Unthinkable", photo: IDF spokesman
"About the presidential plane in our conversation, I said to the President of Germany, think about it, we are on our way to Bergen-Belsen, one of the most dangerous places on earth where we could not defend ourselves, and here 15 years ago we could and did defend ourselves against a terrible threat. And we prevented the threat before the government The Syrian massacred its own citizens during the civil war and before introducing an Iranian presence into Syria. That's how vital and important this operation was to Israel's security."
The presidents of Israel and Germany in the Bergen-Belsen camp,
were we wrong
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