The Foolish Iranian Attack To Which The Right Israeli Response Is Nothing
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/14/opinion/israel-iran-attack.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/14/opinion/israel-iran-netanyahu-biden.html
I have been getting questions about what happens next after the Iranian attack on Israel on Saturday night. To summarize a very one-sided incident of combat, Iran fired about 300 drones and missiles, including cruise missiles, at Israel. They were probably headed to an Israeli airbase in the south. Most of these were shot down before entering Israeli airspace and 99% never reached their targets. Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany jointly eliminated the threat to civilian populations. It’s amazing what the good guys can do when they work together against the bad guys.
The question now is what does Israel do in response to what was touted as an answer for the putative Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus that killed seven high level Iranian military leaders on April 1.
My answer is precisely that of Tom Friedman and Bret Stephens from The New York Times above. Israel should do nothing militarily at all. In fact, they already have done something big. They squashed the effectiveness of the first full-scale Iranian attack on Israel. What else do they have to do? The Israelis demonstrated that the Iranians were both fool hardy and ineffective.
I suggest that the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations ask the U.N. General Assembly to condemn the Iranian attack and follow condemnation with broad sanctions. The Israelis should begin to work with the United States and its Sunni Arab allies in Jordan and Saudi Arabia to promote a revolution in Iran where the population hates the government and would do anything to get rid of the mullahs and get back to being a real country again. The rest of the world needs to isolate Iran on the world stage as well.
Now this inaction is going to be tough for Israel to do. After all, their country was attacked by a real foreign power for the first time since Saddam Hussein did it in 1991. (Remember the Scud missiles?) Israel has every right to retaliate with an all-out attack on sovereign Irani territory. However, that would be foolish in light of Israel’s sitting on the moral high ground at the moment vis a vis Iran and Israel has its hands full in Gaza.
My hope is that Prime Minister Netanyahu foregoes the inclination to strike back and concentrates on bringing the Gaza war to a successful conclusion meaning evicting Hamas in its entirety from Gaza and promoting a Sunni Arab solution to the Palestinian issue. The Israeli public is not ready for a Palestinian state next door, but the process to get there must begin now. If the Saudis and the other Arab Gulf states took up the challenge of rebuilding Gaza and bolstering a legitimate Palestinian Authority something good may come from the Iranian attack.
For now, Israel should keep its powder dry. Work the diplomatic channels. Isolate Iran. If things get to the Security Council you can bet Russia will veto any sanction, but do it anyway. Get everyone on record now.
The attack Saturday was a grievous error by Iran unless it wasn’t. Surely, Iran knew that Israel would eliminate the slow flying drones. Perhaps Iran was surprised that the alliance against it virtually negated the entire attack. Perhaps this was all for show for the Iranian people. Surely the mullahs know how much they are hated.
This is a critical moment in the Middle East. The attack takes some pressure off Israel that has arisen due to the death from the war in Gaza. Finish the job in Gaza and get the rest of the world to sign up against Iranian aggression.
This could be good for the Jews.
