Israeli Prime Minister’s OfficeUS President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a highly anticipated 30-minute phone call – believed to be their first contact since August – which included discussing Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran last week missile attack.
The White House called the conversation “direct” and “productive” and said Biden and Netanyahu agreed to stay in “close contact” in the coming days. Vice President Kamala Harris also joined the call.
Shortly after, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that an Israeli attack on Iran would be “deadly, precise and, above all, surprising.”
There are two forces at work. One is Joe Biden’s reluctance to see the United States dragged into a war with Iran, which it views as unnecessary and dangerous.
Another is the strong awareness among some in Israel that they have an opportunity to deal a serious blow to their mortal enemy, Iran.
Israel’s attack on Hezbollah has energized Israelis desperate to escape a brutal war of attrition on the border with Lebanon.
To them, Lebanon feels like success and progress, in stark contrast to the situation in Gaza.
Despite Israeli attacks on Gaza killing at least 42,000 people, mostly civilians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to achieve two of his war goals – the destruction of Hamas and the rescue of hostages.
Hamas is still fighting and is holding about 100 hostages, many of whom may be dead.
The damage done to Israel’s enemies – Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza – has convinced some Israelis to launch further direct attacks against Iran.
For them, devastating air strikes against Iran are an alluring prospect.
The top targets for many Israelis are heavily fortified sites, some deep in the mountains, where Iran has nuclear facilities that Israel and other countries fear could be used to build bombs.
U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyPresident Biden has made clear that the United States opposes the idea.
The United States believes that Iran will not build nuclear weapons. An attack might prompt them to build one.
One of the most prominent voices in Israel urging Netanyahu to ignore U.S. wishes is former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who said Israel must not hesitate to take action against what he called the Iranian octopus.
He told me it was “eleventh hour.”
Like opposition politician and former general Benny Gantz, Bennett believes Iran is weaker than it has been in decades because of the damage suffered by Hezbollah and Hamas.
“Essentially, Iran is using these two weapons, Hezbollah and Hamas, to defend itself. They are an insurance policy against strikes,” Bennett said.
“But now both arms are almost useless.”
Bennett sees this moment as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do real damage to Iran’s Islamic regime.
He added: “Here’s the thing. The strategy with Iran — ultimately it’s not going to happen tomorrow.
“We need to hasten the demise of this regime. This is a regime that is about to fall.
“If Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, the likelihood that they will use it to save the regime is high. That means they will turn the entire Middle East into a nuclear nightmare.
Bennett recalled two Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities that he believed made the Middle East a safer place – in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007.
“People didn’t like it,” Bennett said. [Bashar al-] Assad has nuclear weapons.
“We have the thankless job of destroying the nuclear facilities of the worst regimes in the world. Everyone likes to criticize us, but we’re doing the job.
“If they get that bomb, that’s everybody’s problem. It’s not our problem. I want to see how Londoners feel when there’s an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear bomb. We can’t allow that to happen. .
Oren Rosenfeld Iran and Israel have been in direct conflict since April, when Israel assassinated a top Iranian general in a sting operation. Iran’s embassy in Syria comes under massive airstrike.
Iran retaliated with missile attacks on Israel. Escalation continues.
The latest news, released last Tuesday, came in response to Israel’s attacks on Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, Its leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated.
Iran launch a massive ballistic missile attackthe Israeli prime minister vowed to fight back.
President Biden is unwilling to restrict Israel in Gaza. and “urged” Israel to minimize harm to Lebanese civilians. But he has insisted that Israel must not respond to the Iranians by striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The United States believes that Iran will not build nuclear weapons.
President Biden said Israel must defend itself – but not by attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities – or its oil industry.
The United States fears being dragged into a war it does not want. There are concerns that if Iran survives an attack, it will go to great lengths to produce nuclear warheads for its missiles.
The next phase of this escalating war depends on the extent of Israeli retaliation – which could happen at any time.
