Iran’s missile strike destroyed training center for Israeli military pilots: Report

Gabriel Colodro – TheMediaLine.org Jan 21, 2026

“The Iranians have already proven that they know how to strike strategic targets,” opposition MK Avigdor Lieberman said during Israel Beiteinu faction meeting, opening a warning that Israel must begin preparing now for a future Iranian attack rather than assuming the next confrontation will resemble the last.

Israel’s former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Click to enlarge

Lieberman argued that the recent fighting removed any remaining doubt about Tehran’s operational reach. Iranian ballistic missiles, he said, were not fired indiscriminately. “They didn’t hit random places. They knew exactly where to aim,” he said, pointing to the precision with which strategic sites were targeted during the 12-Day War.

He cited the strike on the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot as a concrete example. The institute, one of Israel’s leading research centers, was hit by an Iranian ballistic missile, destroying laboratories and years of scientific work. Research programs in areas such as cancer and cardiac regeneration were wiped out, setting back projects that had taken years to build. Lieberman said the damage highlighted how civilian research infrastructure has become a target. “These are strategic interests of the State of Israel,” he said.

According to Lieberman, the lesson is not limited to missile interception or retaliation. Preparation, he argued, must include advance decisions about what needs to be protected, moved, or dispersed. “We need to be smart,” he said. “There are strategic interests that should be evacuated, protected, and relocated in advance.” Waiting until after another strike, he warned, would only repeat the same mistake. “We cannot ask afterward why we didn’t do this earlier.”

Lieberman cautioned against assuming continuity between past and future conflicts. “The next confrontation will not look like the last one,” he said, arguing that Iran and its proxies are constantly adapting their capabilities and methods. Treating the last war as a template for the next, he added, risks leaving Israel unprepared.

He linked that warning directly to the experience of the recent war. “We saw what happens when preparation is incomplete,” Lieberman said. “We saw the cost when strategic assets are left exposed.” The issue, in his view, is not whether Israel can respond after an attack, but whether it is willing to take preventive steps before one.

Lieberman rejected suggestions raised in recent days that Israel could rely on regional actors or external arrangements in confronting Iran. He dismissed proposals that place responsibility on other countries, saying Israel cannot outsource its security decisions or assume that another state will contain Tehran on its behalf.

He then returned to the question of a postwar inquiry and again ruled out any framework other than a state commission. Lieberman said that anything else would avoid examining decisions taken at the top. When asked about alternative models, he dismissed them outright, saying they would not address responsibility at the political and strategic level.

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