The contents of audio recordings belonging to former Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak were leaked to the media Aug. 21. In the recordings, Barak explains why Israel did not attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2012. Fussing immediately ensued, but it is unclear what the ruckus is all about. The vast majority of the information had previously been published in numerous media outlets, including in Al-Monitor.
No one, not at the Pentagon nor in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, needs Barak to confirm that Israel did, indeed, prepare itself for several long years to launch an assault on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. It is also no secret that the decisive years were from 2009 to 2012. Every summer, between July and September, during those years, the suspense index rose to new heights. According to analyses, the weather during those months was favorable for an assault, which was supposed to last several consecutive days. Even the differences of opinion in the “forum of eight,” the select group of senior ministers assembled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to formulate strategy regarding Iran, were widely disseminated.
