Aliens are real and US President Donald Trump knows about it, Israel's former space security chief has made an unprecedented claim in an interview, stressing they're keeping their existence a secret as "humanity is not ready for them".
Haim Eshed, 87, in an interview to Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper, spoke extensively about the extraterrestrial life, and also elaborated about "an agreement" between the US government and a "Galactic Federation" of aliens. Mr Eshed has headed Israel's space security programme for nearly three decades, say reports.
There is an agreement between the US government and the aliens as they wish to research and understand "the fabric of the universe", the Jerusalem Post, another daily, quoted him as saying, citing the original interview published in Hebrew. This cooperation apparently includes a secret underground base on Mars.
Donald Trump stopped short of revealing their existence because the Galactic Federation insisted "humanity is not ready yet", Mr Eshed is believed to have told the daily. The aliens insisted humans need to "evolve and reach a stage where we will... understand what space and spaceships are".
"If I had come up with what I'm saying today five years ago, I would have been hospitalized," he further said. He has made similar claims in his book - The Universe Beyond the Horizon - conversations with Professor Haim Eshed.
While there has been no reaction from the US government or Donald Trump on this, social media has been flooded ever since the interview was published earlier this week.
A social media user wrote on Twitter: "As if 2020 could not get any weirder, prominent Israeli general & professor Haim Eshed claims the U.S. and Israel have been in contact with aliens for years. On his disclosure: "I have nothing to lose. I've received my degrees and awards; I am respected in universities abroad."
Some of them also posted memes in sheer disbelief.
So far, US space agency NASA has not completely dismissed the possibility of life beyond earth.
Last year, the US President had officially launched a full-fledged Pentagon force for combat in outer space -- the first new military service in seven decades.
