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.
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.
The Israeli left is a creature about as rare as Bigfoot. Israel simply doesn’t have a major pro-peace party right now.