Zev Chafets, Columnist

Israel's Greatest Enemy: Iran, or Overconfidence?

An interview with former head of military intelligence Amos Yadlin, who has some experience with rogue nuclear programs.

Headed north?

Photographer: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
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On the wall of Amos Yadlin’s office at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, there is a framed Time magazine cover displaying an F-16A fighter jet -- the plane Yadlin flew in 1981 when, as one of eight Israeli pilots, he destroyed Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor.

The attack, dubbed Operation Opera, was a milestone in 40-year career in which Yadlin flew more than 250 combat missions and went on to serve as deputy commander of the Air Force, military attaché in Washington, and, for five years, head of Israeli military intelligence. He retired in 2010 with the rank of major general.