Kahalani, one of the most decorated generals in Israel, started his long career with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in 1962 at the age of 18. He spent over 30 years as a career soldier in several of the IDF's tank units. By the time he retired, he had attained the rank of brigadier general.
He has served in multiple conflicts, including the Six-Day War in 1967, the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Lebanon War in 1982. After the Yom Kippur War, Kahalani earned Israel's highest military decoration, the Medal of Valor, for successfully defending a strategic position against an attack by a vastly superior force.
After retiring from the military, Kahalani began a career in politics, first as deputy mayor of Tel Aviv and then as a member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, from 1992 to 1999. During his time in the Knesset, Kahalani served as minister of public security.
Kahalani told Scarlett that Iran is an existential threat to Israel.
"If we have a threat from Hezbollah, Syria or from Palestinians in Gaza, it does not threaten our lives," said Kahalani. "It's a battle and we suffer a lot and we have to fight against them. The threat we have is from Iran"
Kahalani added that Iran calls for the destruction of Israel almost every day even though Iran does not have a border with Israel and is over 500 miles away to the east. "They have a mission to destroy our country," he said.
For the moment, Kahalani said that the problem with Iran can be solved by the United States. The main obstacle to this is the current American strategy of being "so gentle" with Iran. (Related: Why hasn't he been arrested? John Kerry reportedly leaked classified information about Israel to the terrorist Iranian regime.)
"But the moment that … if they don't care about us, about the future of our country, and continues to be a threat to the future of our country, I believe that Israel will find some kind of solution for this problem," he said.
"Of course, you can imagine what we can do," he added. "We have a strong army. We have intelligence forces. We're strong enough to protect ourselves."
Israel trying to prevent escalating tensions with Iran
Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz recently said that Israel is "working all the time" to prevent a possible war with Iran by "carrying out operations, conveying messages [and] preventing [military] build-up."
Despite doing everything it can to prevent a war with Iran, Gantz said the country is still preparing for the possibility that war might erupt.
Israel will be prepared "to execute operations that haven't been seen in the past, with means that weren't in our hands in the past, that will harm the heart of terror and its abilities," Gantz said.
While Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, Israel is concerned that the country may soon be able to develop nuclear weaponry. Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi stated that Israel is doing everything it can to speed up its operational readiness to deal with such a scenario.
During his interview with Scarlett, Kahalani said Israel will be able to protect itself but many people both in small towns and large cities will be vulnerable because of rocket attacks. "Hezbollah have thousands upon thousands of rockets," he said.
To protect Israel, Kahalani suggests that the country must present itself as a strong nation capable of retaliating severely if it is threatened. He agreed that Israel will not be able to shoot down every rocket fired by Iran or Hezbollah, but if Tel Aviv or Jerusalem is attacked, Israel should threaten to "destroy Lebanon."
Kahalani stressed that Israel has every right to defend itself against attacks that target the country's civilian populations. He, his family and their friends have all lost loved ones due to the conflict. "We are tired of war," he said. "We want quiet. We want peace."
Scarlett and Kahalani have a lot more to say regarding Israel's security situation, and the threats the nation faces not just from Iran, but also from other militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Watch the full Nov. 12 episode of "His Glory" with Pastor David Scarlett, featuring Gen. Avigdor Kahalani, here.
"His Glory" with Pastor David Scarlett airs every Friday from 5-6 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.
Learn more about Israel's conflict with its neighbors by reading the latest articles at WWIII.news.
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