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Inside Bibi’s Bunker
How Israel’s prime minister is stacking his cabinet for a strike on Iran.
BY CHUCK FREILICH
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s use of a cartoon bomb to illustrate Israel’s red lines regarding the Iranian nuclear program may have elicited guffaws among the foreign-policy punditocracy, but the issue is no laughing matter. In fact, Israel’s entire defense bureaucracy has long been engaged in an exhaustive assessment of what is undoubtedly among the most difficult decisions Israel has ever faced — and perhaps themost difficult since David Ben-Gurion declared independence.
Israelis remain divided over what to do about Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Many believe that a nuclear Iran poses an existential threat, in the truest sense of the word, and that Israel must do everything within its power to prevent such an outcome. Others believe that the threat is “merely” dire, though probably not existential, that Israel should do everything within reason to prevent it — but not necessarily everything possible — and that Israel could,in extremis, live with a nuclear Iran.
In the past year these differences became public, with former senior officials accusingNetanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak of irresponsible behavior, and various ministers and senior defense officials indicating that they oppose military action at this time. Conversely, Netanyahu and Barak issued a number of statements in August aimed at preparing the Israeli public for a conflict with Iran. With his speech at the United Nations, Netanyahu has now begun preparing the international community as well.
How these debates will be resolved depends on Israel’s unique policymaking process. The question of whether to strike Iran is not just up to Netanyahu: In Israel, like other parliamentary democracies, the premier is merely “first among equals” — not the chief executive or commander in chief, as in the United States. With the exception of very limited circumstances, such as responding to imminent attacks, the Israeli prime minister requires cabinet approval for all national security decisions. Indeed, even compared with other parliamentary systems, the Israeli premier’s prerogatives are quite limited.
Israel you will be attacked by Egypt and Syria first. Daniel 12:40. You will blow away both of them see Isaiah 17 and 19.
America you and Russia and Iran will also become involved see Ezekiel 38&39
It is all explained in “America’s Last Warning” by Eric E Stahl