Israel made official Tuesday what it has been saying ever since Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2: If Iraqi troops enter Jordan, Israel will retaliate.
The line was drawn by Defense Minister Moshe Arens, in a carefully prepared statement he read during a special Knesset debate on the Persian Gulf crisis. Parliament was called out of summer recess for the discussion.
“I ought to stress that the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait does not constitute a strategic change from Israel’s standpoint,” Arens said.
“But the moment we see that we face a change — for instance, the entry of the Iraqi army into Jordan — we will act,” the defense minister added.
He stressed that “this was the policy of Israel’s governments in the past and remains so now.
“Israel will continue to watch closely the actions of the Iraqi ruler, and will know how to defend her interests and her security,” Arens said.
The defensive doctrine he enunciated is considered likely to win approval from both the left and right within the political mainstream.
Arens’ position corresponds precisely with the position advanced by Yossi Sarid of the opposition Citizens Rights Movement immediately after the invasion last Thursday.
Speaking for the opposition Labor Party, Moshe Shahal warned President Saddam Hussein of Iraq that he would bring disaster to his nation by aggression against Israel.
“Israel is not Kuwait,” the former energy minister observed.
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