The chairman of defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems said Tuesday that Israel cannot fully prevent future surprise attacks, whether from Palestinian terrorists such as those who carried out the Oct. 7 assault or from Iran, but must ensure it can withstand them without catastrophic consequences.
Yuval Steinitz, a former Cabinet minister who now heads Rafael, spoke at a defense high-tech conference organized by ynet and its parent newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
“There is no absolute way to prevent surprises,” said Yuval Steinitz. “Historically, from the Battle of Salamis in ancient Greece to the present day, it has been proven that over time both sides always manage to surprise each other.”
“You have to build yourself in such a way that if you are surprised, you absorb a blow but not a collapse or a disaster,” he added.
Referring to the possibility of renewed confrontation with Iran, Steinitz said Israel cannot rule out further shocks. “I am not saying there will be no surprises,” he said. “They learned lessons from what happened in the 12-day war and improved. But we also improved greatly and learned many things. And this time there is an additional element that did not exist in June: we have the big brother, the United States.”
“That was the most technological war in human history,” Steinitz added. “The Air Force was the operational arm — and did it fantastically — but it was a major victory for the science and technology of Israel’s defense industries.”
Asked whether Iran could still surprise Israel, he replied: “I assume so. I hear their statements that if there is a war it will become general, regional, global. If they had illusions that they could confront Israel, those illusions evaporated in 12 days in June. They have no illusions. They also know they cannot defeat the United States, but they can hurt it and its allies, like us.”
“I would not be surprised if they try to strike with missiles beyond the Middle East,” he added. “They may try to hit European countries — Berlin, Budapest, Vienna.”
What is the future threat we will have to confront?
“A nuclear capability will remain No. 1, even if we have denied the Iranians 90% of that capability. The second threat is ballistic missiles, and it is serious. During Operation Rising Lion, their plan was to launch 1,500 to 2,000 missiles at Israel. Because we conducted a hunt on Iranian soil, they managed to launch only 550. Of those, unfortunately, 50 struck. War is not a pleasant event even if you win.”
There are developments in ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles and maneuverable reentry warheads. Do we have the ability to deal with this?
“Yes. Already today we have an initial capability to deal with it. I will not elaborate, but everyone knows Israel has a very effective multilayered defense,” Steinitz said, referring to systems such as Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow that intercept short-, medium- and long-range threats.
“And we are developing two revolutionary systems on a global scale. The first is a hypersonic interceptor that can maneuver in the atmosphere at tremendous speeds and intercept hypersonic missiles. The second is Rafael’s laser. This is a historic global breakthrough.”