JERUSALEM: The recently retired chief of Israel's domestic intelligence agency has described the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, as men driven by ''messianic feelings'' and said that he had ''no faith'' in them to lead a possible strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

The scathing comments by Yuval Diskin, who had kept a low profile since retiring last year, added to the sense of a divide between Israel's security establishment and its political leadership over Iran. Last week the head of Israel's military, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, said sanctions and the threat of military action would deter Iran from building nuclear bombs, an analysis that contrasted with Mr Netanyahu's and Mr Barak's grimmer assessments.

"I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings" ... Yuval Diskan adds to the sense of divide between Israel's security establishment and its political leadership. Credit:AP

Mr Diskin, who headed the Shin Bet security agency for six years, said at a community meeting in Kfar Saba, a central Israeli city, that a pre-emptive attack on Iranian nuclear sites would probably accelerate, not end, Iran's nuclear ambitions.

''They are misleading the public on the Iran issue,'' Mr Diskin said of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Barak. ''I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings.''