Defense minister: Israel would respond to Iraqi strikes

Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel "has a right to respond" if Iraq reacts to a potential U.S. attack by launching weapons of mass destruction against Israeli cities, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Friday.

"No one can expect us to sit aside while the Iraqis will use chemical or biological or nuclear weapons or whatever," Ben-Eliezer told CNN in an interview Friday. "To step aside -- no, that will not happen."

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Iraq tried to divide the Western-Arab coalition arrayed against it by launching missile strikes against targets in Israel. Under pressure from Washington, Israel -- which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons -- did not respond to the attacks. Instead, the United States supplied the Patriot missile system to Israel for its defense.

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Now, with the Bush administration trying to build a case for removing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Ben-Eliezer said there should be "no doubt" that Israel would take action against Iraq.

"I certainly believe our friends the Americans have to take that into consideration, and certainly the whole world should understand that no one has the right to ask us not to defend our country or our people," he said.

Ben-Eliezer said a U.S. war in Iraq would change "the whole structure in the Middle East," including Israel's relations with the Palestinians, Syria and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which fired rockets at Israeli positions in a disputed border region Thursday.

"I think destroying the present Iraqi regime will change the whole thing -- will change the whole thing and maybe give a good lesson to the Iranians, Iraqis and the Syrians," he said. Replacing Hussein with a moderate government also could encourage moderate elements among the Palestinian leadership, he added.