Wilkie to Newsmax: Netanyahu Shows Iran He Can Strike Any Time

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with his continued actions in targeting Iran, is telling its ayatollahs that he can "strike them anytime and anywhere he wants to," former Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said on Newsmax on Friday.

He noted on "Wake Up America" that the latest strike came this week in the form of a large cyber hit on Iran's banks.

"It was the Israelis who brought down the entire Iranian banking system," Wilkie said. "They not only brought down the entire Iranian banking system, but they brought down every gas station in Iran to the point where Iranians couldn't get gasoline."

The cyber attack Wednesday targeted The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and other banks in Iran, paralyzing all computer systems in what was estimated to be one the largest cyber attacks made against the nation's state infrastructure, reported The Jerusalem Post.

"[Netanyahu's] also told them that he's put the leadership of Iran in their crosshairs," said Wilkie. "I'm of a mixed feeling about this. I do think the Israelis have to finish this job but I also understand that in a country as small as Israel, the cost of losing one person is more meaningful in the sense that most people are related to each other in a country of that size. The loss of one person is magnified in a society like Israel's. ... It's an incredible dilemma that each Israeli leader carries."

Meanwhile, cease-fire talks are continuing, but no Hamas representation is expected at Friday's meetings.

"I think that Hamas is probably at the behest of Iran in carrying this out as long as it can to regroup what it has left of its fighters in the portion of Gaza that is closest to the Egyptian border," Wilkie said. "I do think that the Israelis are now pushing back into areas that they had originally cleared to make sure that the terrorists haven't come back. It is a long slog, and I do think Netanyahu's preference is to finish this job and eliminate the last of the terrorist infrastructure."

Wilkie also on Friday discussed this month's anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying he believes the fall of Kabul was "much worse" than the fall of Saigon in 1975, "because we live in a more dangerous world."

"I'll just fall back to the former socialist prime minister of Sweden, [Carl Bildt] who said two days after [Joe] Biden withdrew that the Russians would take the lesson from this, that the United States is a paper tiger, and he was more than right," Wilkie said.

Wilkie said the withdrawal had a "cascading effect around the world," particularly with the Iranians, whose Quds Force commander also called it worse than Vietnam, because "America has shown the world that it will run at the first sign of danger."

Wilkie also recalled working during former President George W. Bush's administration and dealing with Biden, who was then a senator.

"Whenever Sen. Biden would come to the Pentagon for a briefing, it would never be a briefing," he said. 'He would be telling the generals and the political leaders of the Pentagon how dumb all of us were, that he knew better. An hour-long briefing turned into a 55-minute tirade by Sen. Biden. I served with some of those generals who were in the room with him, who told him the truth and he blew right over them."

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