Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumIsrael's profound choice on Iran
In the end it will come down to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His senior officials will make their cases, but he alone will have to make one of the most critical decisions inIsrael's history: whether to attackIran's nuclear program. I do not envy him.
There has been much media speculation lately about possible Israeli military action, largely from those who have never borne the crushing weight of momentous national decisions. Israel has made many controversial decisions over the decades, some mistaken. One thing that cannot be said is that it has taken major military action lightly. Rarely if ever have the stakes been higher.
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The international community, which is finally beginning to take serious measures to deal with the Iranian threat nearly 20 years after Israel and the U.S. first began warning of it will undoubtedly respond harshly to an Israeli action and in some cases even impose sanctions. The Obama administration has made clear that it firmly opposes military action, although its own measures have failed to address the threat. Israel has lived with international recriminations before, but it cannot afford an overly severe response from the U.S., its one major ally, on whom it would be even more dependent in a post-attack period.
So herein lies the dilemma: a potential risk to the nation's existence versus the uncertain results of military action, the likelihood of a devastating Iranian/Hezbollah response, the risk of an end to the peace with Egypt and even a military confrontation and regional war, severe international opprobrium and a partial rift with the United States.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-freilich-israel-20120202,0,2807823.story
Leftist Agitator
(2,759 posts)This article is filled with hyperbole. And the pro-Israel bias couldn't be more blatant...
bemildred
(90,061 posts)So I tend to select that sort of stuff to post.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)According to Home Front Defense Minister Vilnai, the main problem remains safeguards for private homes and essential infrastructures, as well as available strategic reserves of fuel and electricity.
By Barak Ravid
Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai is today expected to call for increased investment to protect Israel's cities and national infrastructure. Vilnai presents his annual report on the Home Front's preparedness for emergencies to the cabinet amid reports from the United States that Israel plans to strike Iran before June.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said the cabinet level discussion about the Home Front is a routine affair that was scheduled a long time ago and has taken place annually since the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. Aides of the Home Front minister also insisted that there is no direct connection between the rising tensions with Iran and the timing of the meeting.
The Home Front will take center stage in the event of a clash between Israel and Iran, since the assessment is that Iran will respond to any Israeli strike with a barrage of missiles that will target Israeli cities. According to this assessment, Iran will rally Hezbollah in the north and Islamic Jihad in the south to join in on the attack, which will result in thousands of missiles targeting Israeli cities and strategic installations.
Vilnai, who previously served as deputy defense minister, was made Home Front Minister after leaving Labor for Ehud Barak's new party, Atzmaut. During a cabinet meeting last January, during which the new ministerial appointments were approved, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that a "specialized ministry would be set up to deal with the Home Front."
in full: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/top-israeli-minister-calls-to-increase-protection-of-cities-amid-fears-of-confrontation-with-iran-1.411072
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Israel and the west in general are better off to continue to employ espionage and diplomacy to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon.