Tornado Alley (PROG)

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If the U.S. Goes to War With Iran, Netanyahu Will Be the Prime Suspect

"Landgrab continues - Israel plans to entrench annexation of East Jerusalem: Report"

He convinced Trump that Tehran will capitulate to crippling sanctions and a credible military threat – but the ayatollahs disagree

Chemi Shalev
May 19, 2019 3:56 PM

[...]

The attempt to distance itself from an American military operation in the Middle East, as if Israel was merely a fan sitting in the bleachers cheering its favorite team, inevitably sparks analogies to Yitzhak Shamir’s policy of restraint in the 1991 Gulf War and Ariel Sharon .. https://www.haaretz.com/misc/tags/TAG-ariel-sharon-1.5598883 ’s similar attitude during the 2003 war in Iraq. Shamir’s task was rendered far more difficult because Israel was directly attacked by Saddam Hussein’s Scud missiles, but was infinitely easier as well, because no one in his right mind could blame Israel for Saddam’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

And while Israel did not come under direct attack in the 2003 Iraq War, it was nonetheless compelled to defend itself against claims, which proliferated as the war progressed, that it had pushed President George W. Bush to decide on the attack in the first place. In the lead up to that ill-fated war, Netanyahu was once again one of a handful of prominent Israelis who preferred to break the silence. In public testimony before the Government Reform Committee of the House of Representatives in 2002, Netanyahu assured American lawmakers that Saddam either had nuclear weapons or was on the verge of acquiring them, with the help of hidden centrifuges “no bigger than washing machines.” Deposing Saddam, Netanyahu promised, would do wonders for the Middle East as a whole.

Even though he was a private citizen then, Netanyahu’s testimony provided critics with supposedly incontrovertible proof of Israel’s involvement in pushing Bush to war. Netanyahu’s testimony has resurfaced in recent days to ostensibly show Netanyahu’s tendency to inflate, exaggerate, make mountains out of molehills and to view U.S. military might as the ultimate response to threats on Israel, whether they emanate from Baghdad or Tehran.

But even without his damning testimony from the past, and even if Netanyahu doesn’t say another word, if war breaks out between the U.S. and Iran, he will be named as the prime suspect as far as its opponents are concerned. Netanyahu, with the assistance of like-minded allies in the U.S. and the Middle East, persuaded Donald Trump to abandon Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Netanyahu convinced Trump that a combination of crippling economic sanctions and a credible military threat will force Tehran to beg for a new and improved nuclear deal, which will include its malevolent regional activities which were not addressed in “Obama’s deal”. And given that countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are far more belligerent towards Iran in private than they are in public, Netanyahu became a one-man cheerleading squad for Trump’s latest moves.

But while the campaign to blame Israel for the Iraq War was limited to a relatively small clique of its most vociferous critics – the most prominent of which were Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer in their book about the Israel lobby .. https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-im-not-anti-israel-1.5245373 – conflagration with Iran would dramatically expand the circle of Israel-accusers. When Walt and Mearsheimer published their book a dozen years ago, Israel still enjoyed wide partisan support in Congress. Its situation today is substantially worse: After burning his bridges with American liberals, including most Jews .. https://www.haaretz.com/misc/tags/TAG-jews-in-america-1.5599108 , and after he openly challenged – and, in their eyes, humiliated – Obama over the 2015 nuclear deal, many Democrats .. https://www.haaretz.com/misc/tags/TAG-democrat-party-1.5599321 .. are far more likely to point fingers at Netanyahu the moment the first American soldier is killed.

Many more links - https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-if-iran-u-s-trump-war-israel-netanyahu-will-be-prime-suspect-1.7249974

See also:

The Israel-Iran Shadow War Escalates and Breaks Into the Open
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=150830012

Bibi’s downfall: Is the most dangerous man in the Middle East done for?
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=147196479