During our recent briefing by a "senior military source," he cited two reasons why Iran remains Israel's biggest threat.
The first and most obvious reason is that Iran is desperately trying to build a nuclear bomb.
The second, but still ominous reason, is that Iran leads the radical camp in the Middle East. Iran exports, sponsors, trains and equips all kinds of terrorist organizations around the Middle East.
For example, Syria, Iran's staunchest ally, plays a major destabilizing role in Lebanon. Syria also hosts the headquarters of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Damascus.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah remains an Iranian proxy with overarching political ambitions. Furthermore, Hezbollah has violated UN resolution 1701.
The resolution -- passed after the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006 -- was designed to limit the number of weapons coming into southern Lebanon.
Despite the resolution, Israeli intelligence estimates Hezbollah now has more than 40,000 rockets in its arsenal, more than double what it had before the war.
They also possess cutting-edge technology from Iran and continue to build underground fortifications in Shiite villages in southern Lebanon. Each village has a Hezbollah unit in it.
To Israel's south, Iran has been arming, funding and training Islamic terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
Since Israel's "disengagement" from Gaza in August 2005, terror groups have fired more than 7,000 rockets and mortars into southern Israel. The number of attacks increased after June 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza from Fatah. Hamas - with the help of Iran - is also building a major fighting force in Gaza.
Hamas gets most of its munitions by smuggling them from the border between Egypt and Gaza. They operate 300 - 400 tunnels. Some are so big they bring in live animals, as well as thousands of rockets.
In addition to the smuggling, dozens of terrorists pass through the Gaza Strip to get advanced military training in Iranian training camps. Here they receive training, indoctrination and equipping and are sent back.
With this combination of terror threats on its northern and southern borders and the long-range missile threats from Iran, the challenge militarily to Israel is enormous.
It's a small country. Israeli soldiers are expected to perform a variety of tasks, from arresting a terrorist to fighting a pitched tank battle. Perhaps no army in the world faces such a range of military challenges.
To answer all these challenges the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is preparing for different conflicts. One advantage they have is cutting-edge technology and equipment like the Merkava 4 and the F-16I.
With 2008 drawing to a close, their soldiers, equipment and leadership in 2009 might well be called upon again to answer challenges to the future and existence of the Jewish state.