How Israel’s defense minister embarrassed NATO over Iran

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During a briefing with the ambassadors to Israel of the 15 members of the UN Security Council, Defense Minister Benny Gantz made a strange, some might say disdainful, remark about NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The briefing, in which Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also participated, was after Iran’s attack against the ship Mercer Street, which is partially owned by the Ofer family, killing its Romanian captain and British security officer.

The briefing was attended by representatives of the Security Council‘s five permanent members: the United States, China, Russia, Great Britain and France; they were joined by representatives of the 10 rotating members – the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Albania, Brazil, Ghana, Gabon, India, Mexico, Norway, and Kenya. They were also joined by the Romanian ambassador.

Five of those present in the room represented countries belonging to NATO – the United States, Great Britain, France, Norway and Romania.

It bears noting that Israel has the status of a NATO Mediterranean Dialogue partner and in the past participated in maritime campaigns against piracy in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The briefing was convened after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a “collective response” against Iran. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson went even further, saying that the Islamic Republic must “face up to the consequences” of the attack against the ship.

The goal of Gantz and Lapid was to share information gathered by the Israel army intelligence and the Mossad with the ambassadors, and to urge action against Iran.

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The actual information was scanty and relied primarily on American sources. Gantz accused Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Aerospace Force, of being responsible for the attack against the ship, and also revealed the name of the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Air Force and Aerospace branch UAV commander, Saeed Ara Jani. He called Ara Jani “the principal operator” of the UAVs, which Iran has been using a lot in recent years, including to attack the oil company Aramco’s facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia; Israel in Syria; American targets in Iraq; or to attack by means of the Houthi militia in Yemen. American sources said the lethal drone attack against Mercer Street was launched from Yemen.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Commander Gen. Hossein Salami, left, and the Guard’s aerospace division commander stand next to the “Gaza” drone in Iran in May this year.Sepahnews / AP

The ambassadors listened attentively to what Gantz and Lapid were saying, and were purely astonished when, at a certain point, the defense minister said that NATO is an organization that shies away from action, and does nothing. The aides of Gantz and Lapid braced, but didn’t react.

After the meeting several of the ambassadors expressed surprise and disappointment at the rudeness and tactlessness, especially at a time when representatives of Russia, China and the Western powers were in the room.

“The Israeli defense minister comes to a discussion in which he wants to arouse international public opinion, wants to isolate Iran, to warn against its belligerence and to urge the Security Council to take real action. Instead, he insults and challenges NATO. That attests to stupidity,” said a source who had been at the meeting. Ambassadors who had been at the discussion confirmed that Gantz had said these things.

Gantz’s media adviser, Amir Koren, stated that the defense minister “hadn’t spoken disdainfully about NATO and his remark shouldn’t be taken out of context. He was giving an example of a statement by someone who said that 20 years ago, I don’t remember who. He said that he doesn’t want to use such terms, but the international community must take action.”

I asked Koren why it was necessary to even mention something so negative if it was said 20 years ago – what for? Koren answered: “When I heard Gantz talking I braced because I thought he was about to say something problematic. But it was in the context of the need for international action. He said something like I’m taking advantage of the fact that I’m defense minister rather than foreign minister and therefore should be less diplomatic. Don’t take what I’m telling you seriously, but once… someone said of NATO that it’s an organization that doesn’t act. And I’m telling you now, this is the time to act.”

No spanking for Iran

In any case, military action to punish Iran apparently isn’t going to happen: not by NATO, not by the UK, not by the United States and not by Israel. Last weekend the spokesman for CENTCOM – the U.S. Central Command – described the chain of events leading to the attack on the Mercer, noting that the ship had been in international waters in the Gulf of Oman when it happened.

The day before the actual attack, on July 29, two drones loaded with explosives were flown towards the ship but missed and crashed into the sea, he said. The ship’s crew reported the incident on the emergency channels. The next day another drone did attack, hitting the ship near the command center and the crew’s cabins and blasting open a 2-meter-wide hole.

The Mercer Street, off Capetown, 2016Johan Victor/ AP

Explosives experts and investigators from the U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan then boarded the ship, interviewed the crew, and retrieved parts of at least one of the drones that had crashed into the sea, among them a wing stabilizer. The parts were examined in the laboratory of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Manama, Bahrain, and were found to be identical to those of other Iranian UAVs in the possession of the United States. The explosive was RDX, a military explosive.

These and other findings were also examined by British experts in Bahrain, and were presented to Israeli investigators. The joint conclusion of the experts of the three countries was unequivocal: The drones had been manufactured in Iran and the purpose had been to damage the Mercer Street, perhaps even to kill crew members. We can also guess that in addition to the forensic findings, the United States, Great Britain and Israel have SIGINT (signal intelligence, from wiretapping) and perhaps also HUMINT (human intelligence, from agents).

Despite the new Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi‘s conservatism and extremism, Washington still hopes he will lead Iran back into the 2015 nuclear treaty. So although the U.S. has proof of Iran’s involvement in the attack on the Mercer, the chances of a punitive operation against it are not great.

About a week ago the ambassadors of Great Britain, Romania and Liberia (under whose flag the ship sailed) sent a letter to the Security Council urging it to condemn Iran. On the weekend the Security Council convened for a closed?doors discussion, but even if renews its discussions this week on the broader subject of “maritime security” and decides to condemn Iran, the chances are that Russia and China will impose a veto.

It is interesting to note that in the briefing with Gantz and Lapid the Chinese ambassador to Israel, Cai Run, did not speak. In contrast, the Russian ambassador, Anatoly Viktorov, said that his country has no opinion and is waiting for evidence. We can assume that even if Russia is shown the evidence published by CENTCOM and even if it is shown secret evidence – Moscow will claim that it is insufficient.

Israel, in any case, won’t act alone, certainly not openly. This matter, like others, will be at the center of the meetings of Mossad Chief David Barnea and Military Intelligence Director Tamir Heyman with CIA Director William Burns, who is visiting Israel this week for the first time.