At a ceremony for incoming Mossad chief David Barnea, Prime Minister Netanyahu remarked that “our greatest threat is the existential threat posed by Iran’s efforts to arm itself with nuclear weapons, whether to threaten us directly… or to threaten us with tens of thousands of missiles or a great many missiles backed by a nuclear umbrella”. “Iran is different from the other countries that have nuclear weapons today; therefore, containment is not an option”, Netanyahu argued, adding: “If we need to choose… between friction with our great friend, the U.S. and getting rid of an existential threat, getting rid of the existential threat will prevail”. Barnea in turn asserted that “the Iranian [nuclear] program will continue to be met with the full power of the long arm of the Mossad”, and indicated that “Iran is acting even at this very moment to realise its nuclear vision”. “We will not act according to the idea that ‘majority rules’ since the same majority will not be stuck with paying the price for their mistaken evaluation of the threat”, Barnea stated.