Ex-Mossad chief: Occupation is Israel’s only real threat

The only “existential” threat facing Israel is its refusal to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians, the former Mossad director, Tamir Pardo, warned today.

“Israel has decided not to choose, and is hoping the conflict will one day resolve itself, or that the Arabs will disappear in some kind of cosmic miracle,” Pardo said in a security conference in Netanya city.

Israel has one existential threat, and it’s a ticking time bomb… In an extraordinary way, we’ve decided to bury our heads deep in the sand, to preoccupy ourselves with alternative facts and flee from reality while creating other various external threats.

Pardo pointed out that unless Israel acts to separate itself from Palestinians, Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza Strip would eventually outnumber Jews, who could one day find themselves a dwindling minority in a Jewish state.

“Eventually, we will become a bi-national state because it will be impossible to untie the knot between the two peoples…The Jewish and Palestinian populations in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip are nearly equal, and Israel must act to separate itself,” he said.

The former chief noted that despite the Israeli forces’ total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Israel still has full responsibility on the territory. “Israel is responsible for the humanitarian situation, and this is the place with the biggest problem in the world today,” he stressed.

“Israel must deal with the demographic reality and [decide] which state we want to be. Life with alternative facts harbours a disaster for the Zionist vision. The key to saving the state requires brave leadership,” Pardo concluded.

Pardo’s comments were seen to be clear criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who recently backed away from the two-state solution.