Is Netanyahu Already Looking Beyond Gaza To Iran?

[Purveyor]

Israel’s top brass have no answer to the simple question, how will we know that we have won?

By Amir Oren | Jul. 11, 2014 | 10:21 AM

The worst outcome of the current confrontation between Israel and Hamas might be a hasty conclusion by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that this is an opportunity to realize his ongoing dream of attacking Iran.

Hundreds of rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, some of them advanced and long-range, have caused only minimal damage. Iron Dome has done wonders intercepting them. Israelis were tense, but got used to it. While the rest of the world is busy with other crises, Netanyahu might think this is a good time for a quick strike on Iran’s nuclear program, as soon as the talks with the six powers fail. (They’re expected to peak, or reach a nadir, in about a week.)

If that’s how Netanyahu’s mind works, then woe to Israel and woe to its prime minister. The lesson to be learned from this week’s round of violence is not a simple one, even without stopping to consider what would happen if tens of thousands of Hezbollah warheads were to join the fray. How would the Israel Defense Forces prepare for a war on multiple fronts? How would it decide how to allocate the missile defense systems, for example, to protect air force bases or population centers?

Iron Dome would not be enough. This week it seems that not only millions of Israelis but also Hamas counted on the system. Otherwise, the organization wouldn’t have risked hitting Al-Aqsa when it fired rockets at Jerusalem.

The story Israel tells itself, and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, is not what Hamas members tell themselves. In Gaza, what Israel calls Operation Protective Edge looks in Gaza like part of the ancient tradition of steadfastness, sumud in Arabic. Israel, as expected, was not defeated, but neither did it defeat. Over the course of 2,000 years, the persecuted Jewish nation was encouraged when it endured various Pharaohs. Now some see it as Pharaoh, or Goliath, and judge the result in terms of survival.

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http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.604450

[jonjensen]

2. If he could he would have already

The next time there is serious media talk of bombing iran by israel alone see if they explain what that would take to do it militarily and oh maybe the consequences. If they could they would have already!

[BlueMTexpat]

3. Most likely not ...

but he seems to be using Gaza, among other things, to work off his frustrations that Prez O won't bomb Iran, Syria and god knows who else.

In my experience, there are actually quite a few Israelis "on the ground" who would be very happy if ultra-conservative American Jews and US RW evangelical Christians were not so aligned in their idea of fomenting discord in the ME, albeit for very different reasons.