Ze'ev Raz was the leader of the IDF attack force that bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in June 1981. Today he works at Elta Systems LTD, one of Israel's leading defense electronics companies and a subdivision of Israel Aerospace Industries.
The Jewish Press met recently with the former IAF pilot to get his thoughts on the Israeli bombing in September of an alleged nuclear facility in Syria; on Israel's options in dealing with what Israeli leaders still consider a very real Iranian nuclear threat; and on what went through his mind as he carried out one of the most daring military actions in Israel's history.
The Jewish Press: Do you have any special insight into what exactly Israel did in Syria this past September?
Raz: We still don't know what actually transpired in Syria. It seems there was nuclear activity there that originated from North Korea. Of course, if we see an enemy country engaged in nuclear activity, it doesn't mean we automatically must rush in and bomb it. To this day Shimon Peres says – and he bases this on what several nuclear experts told him – that even if we hadn't bombed Iraq 26 years ago, the Iraqis still wouldn't be able to produce a nuclear bomb.
But of course, what went on in Syria in cooperation with North Korea smelled so bad that even a dovish Mapainik like the late Moshe Sharett (who opposed the Sinai Campaign in 1956) would have supported bombing the Syrian facility.
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