This year is a critical time for Israel, Jerusalem Post military correspondent Yaakov Katz told an audience in the Holmes Student Center’s Heritage Room Thursday night.

The lecture, co-sponsored by NIU Hillel, began with Katz mentioning the Sept. 6

Israeli airstrike on a Syrian military installation, and the possibility that nuclear technology was located there.

“It’s safe to say that it’s the materialization of one of Israel’s worst nightmares. That of a Middle East with nuclear weapons,” Katz said.

Katz said he does not think Syria and Israel will go to war, given the countries’ behavior toward each other, though war with Iran is a possibility.

“Iran and its president are a threat to not only Israel, but the whole world,” Katz said, highlighting that Iran is leading the world in production of ballistic missiles. Katz said Iran can launch missiles into Central Europe, and questioned the country’s true motives.

“If Israel is its only threat, then why do they have such long-range missiles?” Katz said.

A nuclear Iran would destabilize the region, he said.

Katz also addressed the results of Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah. Katz, who reported from the Israel-Lebanon border from July to August 2006, said the war was a military failure for Israel.

“There were tankers climbing into tanks for the first time in six years,” Katz said, describing the army as rusty. Years of using counterterrorism tactics had not prepared Israel for a conventional war, he said. As a result, the whole Israeli military was undergoing training, Katz said.

Mohamed Kandil, a senior mechanical engineering major, asked Katz during the open forum if Israel should end its policy of nuclear ambiguity as international pressure mounts on Iran and Syria, asking if it would be fair for Israel to open its nuclear facilities to international inspections to ensure compliance.

“Israel is not threatening other nations with destruction; Iran is,” Katz said in response.

Katz came to NIU through the Jewish United Fund, a major Jewish organization located in Chicago. Robert Rubinson, a senior finance major and vice president of NIU Hillel, works at JUF as an intern.

Rubinson said he works to show Israel “in a positive light to different organizations and on campus.”

Cary Wolovick, senior history/political science major and president of NIU Hillel, said the public should be given the opportunity to hear Israel’s point of view.

“Both sides need to be heard, and the Israeli side is not something you hear everyday,” Wolovick said.

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