Israel seems ready to respond in a much more forceful and public way with Iran after Tehran launched its second massive missile attack on Israel this year, analysts and officials say.
After Israel invaded Lebanon to confront Iran’s strongest ally, Hezbollah, and Iran’s second massive missile attack on Israel in less than six months, Israel seems ready to strike Iran directly, in a much more forceful and public way than it ever has, and Iran has warned of massive retaliation if it does.
“We are in a different story right now,” said Yoel Guzansky, a former senior security official who oversaw Iran strategy on Israel’s National Security Council. “We have a consensus in Israel — among the military, the defense experts, analysts and politicians — that Israel should respond in force to Iran’s attack.”
To many Israelis, there is now little to lose: Iran’s efforts to strike the urban sprawl around Tel Aviv crossed a threshold that Tehran has never previously breached, even during its earlier missile attack in April, which targeted air bases but not civilian areas.
So we’re supposed to believe that Israel is only at this late date “ready to risk (an) all-out war” that it in fact has brazenly and obviously been trying to provoke for months now?
Seriously?
To many Israelis, there is now little to lose: Iran’s efforts to strike the urban sprawl around Tel Aviv crossed a threshold that Tehran has never previously breached, even during its earlier missile attack in April, which targeted air bases but not civilian areas.
Glad to see Israel finally admit that attacking civilian centers is bad.
Also they attacked the Mossad HQ in Tel Aviv. Why is Israel using human shields and its allies are not outraged about this heinous terrorist tactic?
It doesn’t take a genius to see this tit-for-tat is just going to continue and amplify each time. Strike, bigger counterstrike, rinse & repeat. Without a doubt Israel’s next strike is likely going to be the biggest we’ve seen yet.
Honestly, and I don’t think it’s hyperbole, but I think there is nothing in the current environment that is going to prevent a full-scale total war in the middle east, possibly even beyond that.
I hope I’m wrong.
The US pulling its support might.
We back off, Israel loses a lot of protection it’s just taking for granted.
I think that if the democrats win this election there is a decent chance the US could start slowly pulling support. Right now, democrats have to be rabidly pro Israel or else they will lose the election, since unfortunately pro-Israel groups still hold a lot of influence over our elections
I think that if the democrats win this election there is a decent chance the US could start slowly pulling support.
Why do you think that? Did I miss something perhaps? I haven’t seen a hint from democrats during the past year up to now to support this claim. On the contrary, they actively send Israel tones of bombs and money to genocide Palestinians, and no matter what “red lines” the Biden administration puts on the matter, soon after they forget about them. And Harris (if I remember correctly) she said she will continue the same policy.
pro-Israel groups still hold a lot of influence over our elections
I really wonder how much though. They seem content with either losing key swing states or even the election altogether as opposed to downgrading anything with Israel. AIPAC is strong, but surely they must have done vote prediction calculations.
I think the opposite. So far AIPAC is supporting both sides so it has the power to punish and make one side loose over a lack of support for Israel.
This concept needs to break for either party to change their support for Israel. If the Dems win they will understand that opposition to Israels crime is not important as it will not change the outcome, while they still fear AIPAC.
This has been going on for decades.
It is a bit scary right now. But odds are one side will blink, make a “statement” attack with little to no casualties, and then things will cool down for another year or so until it ramps up again.
No no no, you don’t understand. We’re just de-escalating through escalation.
I wish this was /s rather than a direct quote…
I’m not entirely convinced other Arab nations would come to Iran’s defense if Israel attacks it. They’ve been pretty hesitant to respond to Hamas’ attempt to ignite a total conflict in the region, which is a very good thing. There’s very little chance that the U.S. wouldn’t come to Israel’s aid if a regional war were to ignite, and everyone in the region knows their combined strength is nowhere near enough to win a war against Israel with the U.S. directly involved. I have hope that the desire for self-preservation will keep the fighting contained. Honestly, the best thing everyone can do now is choose not to fight. Let Bibi’s war efforts die out in a sputter so that the Left in Israel can finally get him out of power.
so that the Left in Israel can finally get him out of power.
The Israeli left is a creature about as rare as Bigfoot. Israel simply doesn’t have a major pro-peace party right now.
a full-scale total war in the middle east, possibly even beyond that
Who else would enter the war on Iran’s side? It doesn’t have any powerful allies among the other Middle Eastern countries, which rightly perceive it as an ideological rival and a would-be regional hegemon, and its proxies appear to be doing as much as they can already.
I think Iran is vulnerable because it overplayed its hand. Thus a war now may be better than dealing with Iran as a nuclear power later.
Russia/China/North Korea could provide cash and weapons, and others who want to run down US resources.
Who else would enter the war on Iran’s side?
Maybe Syria, but other than that only its proxies. However, nobody will enter on Israel’s side (no middle eastern despot would fight with Israel and survive the week) so yeah.
Despite media speculation, Israel is not currently planning to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to four Israeli officials, even though Israel sees Iran’s efforts to create a nuclear weapons program as an existential threat. Targeting nuclear sites, many of which are deep underground, would be hard without U.S. support. President Biden said Wednesday that he would not support an attack by Israel on Iranian nuclear sites.
I wonder what the strategy here is, given that the USA also wants to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. Is the implication here that the USA will not enable an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities as long as Iran doesn’t actually try to build a bomb? How confident are Israel and the USA that Iran can’t build a bomb in secret? Is there a way Iran could retaliate against an attack on its nuclear facilities but not against an attack on other major targets?
I think the logic is that an attack on nuclear facilities would be – and would be perceived by Iran to be – more substantial. The US accepts that Israel is going to respond but is hoping that Iran won’t escalate after the Israeli retaliation because they don’t want war. They’d be less willing and, maybe, unable to back down after an attack on nuclear facilities.
A big part of it is that we can’t be certain they don’t already have nukes (or dirty bombs). And removing their nuclear capability is the kind of existential threat that leads to “Fuck it, we ball” levels of counterattacks.
Its comparable to using very measured responses against russian aggression.
The USA us probably confident, Israel just needs it as a existential threat.
Stuxnet and their targeted assassinations of Iran’s scientists seem to have made their efforts unfeasible for the foreseeable future. They have the enrichment cylinders, but they can’t keep both the infrastructure and research safe from constant attacks, which makes progress very difficult since it is very expensive both materially and in knowledge. They likely can’t break past 20% enrichment which is useless for a bomb.
For reference the technology was supposedly smuggled/provided by Pakistan, and they did it covertly in about 6-9 years, which also apparently upset Mossad because they thought Pakistan would get involved in the middle east.
I don’t think that Israelis en masse want a a war with Iran, but Bibi appears to.
Bibi just wants war. Whatever keeps him out of jail
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