Israel is returning to a “hold me” policy regarding the Iranian nuclear program. In clear, even blunt, remarks by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the government sent a clear message to the Americans in particular: This time, Israel plans to launch a military option to attack Iran – something that has not been done in the last decade.
“We have a complex period ahead of us, there may also be disagreements with the best in our societies. This will not be the first time,” Prime Minister Bennett said this week at a conference at Reichman University. “The mistake after the nuclear agreement in 2015 will not return. It affected us like a sleeping pill. Israel fell asleep on guard. We will learn from this mistake. We will maintain our freedom of action.”
Bennett’s most harsh criticism of his predecessor Netanyahu is over the Iranian nuclear issue. The blunt words are not kept in this case in closed rooms, but also in public. Not just a difficult legacy, but a real lawlessness, Bennett argues, blurring the fact that in all those years he too was a cabinet member, even a defense minister at the end of 2019.
Bennett was the demanding and demanding voice in the political-security cabinet for many years. If that was true in “Strong Cliff,” why not in Iran’s affairs?
Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo described it as a “disaster,” no less. He refers to the Israeli pressure led by then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the American withdrawal from the agreement, which in the opinion of some of Israel’s security and nuclear experts has brought the Iranians closer to the advanced uranium enrichment point where they now stand.
Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo at a conference at Reichman University: “The IDF and the defense establishment can stab in the best way. “Iran is not the same opera, it is a third-tier country, to wage war against it – only the United States can, and it too is usually required to build an alliance. If it is not possible to end it in an opera, it is worth thinking twice.” pic.twitter.com/sBqrffFy9H
– News here (@kann_news) November 23, 2021
But there was one who was a partner, albeit a partial one, in this pressure: Naftali Bennett. The archive remembers how in 2018 he was interviewed on CNN and said that the agreement should be fundamentally amended – or revoked. The archive remembers how in 2015, after Netanyahu’s speech in Congress, he wrote that the current deal is very bad and added: “Regarding Iran – we are all with Netanyahu.” Many things have changed since then for Bennett and Netanyahu. But the incumbent prime minister is the one who should provide explanations for the dramatic change in the way he perceives Iran. Bennett was the demanding and demanding voice in the political-security cabinet for many years, challenging the system. That was true on a solid cliff, why not in Iranian affairs?
Terrify Iran Listen to the episode in the “Another Day” episode
Still, Bennett’s criticism of Netanyahu’s activities is partly justified. Indeed, with Trump’s withdrawal from the 2018 nuclear deal, Israel has not returned its days as before in terms of its ability to attack Iran. Senior military officials claim today that there were talks in the cabinet regarding returning to fitness on the Iranian issue, but “there was no budget.” If indeed Iran is the most significant threat facing Israel – budgetary considerations should not be an obstacle. One of the Air Force squadron commanders described it to me as follows: “If in previous years we had been constantly training on long sorties when it was clear to everyone what the goal was, during the years of the agreement and also after it – it just did not happen.”
According to foreign publications, Israel has increased its offensive activity in Iran. Did it advance the Israeli security interest? According to the Americans – not at all
And here is the real answer: the nuclear agreement has bought Israel a precious time of “quiet from the nuclear.” This allowed for a focus on the BAMB’s activities in Syria and against the precise missiles or the threat of the tunnels from Lebanon, but also time for introspection, within the IDF and its relations with Israeli society. After the United States withdrew from the agreement, Netanyahu-led Israel gambled that the cards would continue to be in her hands, and that Trump would remain in the White House. It did not happen. The real question that needs to be asked is: What happened from the moment Joe Biden was elected to the White House to the present day, just before the start of the nuclear talks? What steps has Israel taken to thwart the nuclear threat?
Preparing for nuclear talks: Israel believes that Iran has the upper hand and estimates that the talks will reach a dead end. As a result, Israel is increasing pressure on the superpowers@gilicohen10 #Evening News pic.twitter.com/deXE4O9GCh
– News here (@kann_news) November 25, 2021
In an examination based on foreign publications (and here, admittedly, the information at our disposal is limited and biased in favor of those who submit it), Israel has indeed increased its offensive activity in Iran, and even increased its volume. More activity, more noise, more in the headlines. Did it advance the Israeli security interest? The United States now claims, in open criticism of Israel, that it simply does not. This can be argued, but in the test of the result – Iran is now estimated to be three weeks away from a breakthrough.
What do you do here? This is the dilemma among decision-makers, which is only sharpening ahead of the resumption of talks on Monday in Vienna.