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Israeli Spy Technology Pictures Tehran Neighborhood
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Israel wants to create a "spurious feeling of security by relying on appearances of technological superiority." |
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, June 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Showing off the
capabilities of its new Ofek 5 spy
satellite, Israel presented its outgoing army chief General Shaul
Mofaz on Sunday, June 16, with high-resolution pictures of the
neighborhood where he was brought up in Tehran, news agencies
reported.
Israeli
military radio said the images of the Iranian capital proved the
satellite is equipped with cameras which are "among the best in
the world," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Mofaz,
whose term as chief of staff ends early July, immigrated to Israel
with his parents from Iran at the age of nine. He is set to be
replaced by his current deputy, General Moshe Yahalon.
Israel
launched the Ofek-5 May 28 to spy on its neighbors and lift itself
into an exclusive club of states with satellite programs, reported
AFP.
The
satellite, which circles the earth every 90 minutes, will provide
pictures on troop movements, missile-launcher locations or the
construction of nuclear sites, according to military experts.
It
is able to take pictures of objects as small as a meter (yard) in
length from a distance of 450 kilometers (280 miles).
Israeli
specialists have already linked up with the new Ofek-5 (Horizon, in
Hebrew) spy satellite, which started sending images as early as
Friday, May 31.
“There
is not a single dot in the Middle East that escapes the spy
satellite's eye,” the Israeli daily newspaper, Yediot Aharonot,
said in May.
According
to AFP, the paper stressed that Israel is now part of the "very
exclusive club of space spying, to which the United States, China and
Russia also belong."
It
was the only satellite in the world launched in the opposite direction
of the Earth's rotation, from east to west, so as prevent it falling
into an Arab state if it crashed during take-off, AFP said.
The
satellite was launched only three days after Iran announced it had
successfully tested its Shahab-3 missile, whose 1,300-kilometer
(808-mile) range could allow it to strike any point in Israel.
“We
know that the last [Iranian] missile test was a success and it is very
worrying,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
The
Ofek-5 is 2.3-meters long and 1.2 meters wide and weighs 300 kilograms
(660 pounds).
It
replaces the Ofek-3, launched in April 1995 and whose mission came to
an end in January 2001.
In
January 1998, Israel secretly launched Ofek-4, which self-destroyed
after it failed to reach its orbit owing to technical problems.
With
a four-year-lifespan, Ofek-5 can photograph any region in the world 16
times a day.
The
Israeli press claimed that if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
“decides to take his breakfast in his palace courtyard, Ofek-5 will
be able to pinpoint the table on which his meal is being served.”
The
satellite launch embodied a policy "which threatens Arab national
security as a whole,” an Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman said in a
statement June 12.
Israel
was attempting to create a "spurious feeling of security by
relying on appearances of technological superiority" in response
to the effects of the Palestinian Intifada on Israel, the spokesman
said.
The
latest move "provides additional evidence" of Israel's
"hostile and aggressive intentions toward Arab states" and
exposes its quest to expand its "alien" presence and spread
its hegemony over the region, he said.
Arab
states should "take all necessary measures to face and contain
the repercussions" of the missile launch, the spokesman added.
India
and Turkey are reported to be among potential customers of the Ofek 5
satellite launched by Israel Aircraft Industries on May 28.
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