Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel is preparing for the possibility of an Iranian attack during the Jewish holiday period and is ready to respond with significant force if targeted.
Speaking at the “Decision Time: Democracy and Society” conference hosted by ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth in cooperation with the Israel Democracy Institute, Katz said Iran “likes to attack on holidays” and stressed that Israel was prepared.
Defense Minister Israel Katz
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
Asked whether the current exchange of strikes between Washington and Tehran could spill over into Israel, particularly ahead of the Jewish holidays, Katz said Israeli leaders were monitoring developments continuously.
“The prime minister and I are following this on a daily basis together with the IDF, sometimes in the middle of the night on the red phone,” he said. “We are not taking any information lightly. We do not want to be surprised. We are prepared.”
Katz said the IDF, including the Israeli Air Force, was ready to strike Iran if necessary.
“If they attack us, we will respond with great force, independently of anyone else,” he said.
Katz said Israel was currently allowing the United States to take the lead in strikes against Iran because of American interests involving the Strait of Hormuz and energy security.
“For now, they are striking throughout the region except us,” he said. “But there is a possibility that they will attack us. We are prepared for that defensively.”
He added that Iran had a history of timing attacks around Jewish holidays.
“They like to attack on Jewish holidays because they hate Jews,” Katz said. “Look at many things that happened in the past. But we are prepared both defensively and offensively, in coordination with the United States in this area.”
At the same time, Katz stressed that Israel would not accept an attack against it regardless of the trigger.
“If they attack because of Lebanon, because of the West Bank, because of Gaza, or simply because they feel like it, our planes are ready to take off,” he said.
Katz also addressed the possibility that Iran could attempt to rebuild its nuclear program, saying it had been destroyed during Israel’s Operation Rising Lion.
“We destroyed it, the entire production process, all of it,” he said. “There was an active program. We destroyed it.”
Katz said U.S. President Donald Trump later joined the operation with B-2 bombers carrying bunker-busting munitions against Fordow and another site.
“Since then, the nuclear program has not been renewed, and we are monitoring these developments,” Katz said. “Now we need to make sure they do not regain the ability to return to it and that they do not go back to it.”
He said Israel’s policy remained unequivocal.
“We will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons,” Katz said. “If something like that happens, and President Trump says the same thing, then we will likely attack together.”
Katz argued that Israel’s campaign had significantly weakened Iran.
“We removed an existential threat from Iran, eliminated Khamenei, thwarted their strategic capabilities and set them back by decades,” he said.
He added that Israel had also benefited strategically despite casualties on the home front.
“There were casualties, but when you look at the overall balance, there could have been many more,” Katz said. “We neutralized their launch capabilities. Against Iran, we achieved an enormous gain. Our most dangerous enemy was struck and is now significantly weaker than us.”
The conference brings together elected officials from across Israel’s political spectrum, ministers, former senior judicial officials, law-enforcement figures, academics, Israel Democracy Institute researchers, senior civil servants, economists and representatives of civil society for discussions on major issues shaping the country.