An Israeli historian turns up the volume in an attempt to get the USA to do the dirty work on Israel’s behalf:
“Israel,” he avers, “will almost surely attack Iran’s nuclear sites in the next four to seven months.” Either that, he writes, or else Israel will eventually have to launch “a preemptive nuclear strike.” His message to the West: take out Iran, or we’ll nuke ’em!
The Israelis have been threatening to strike for the past six months, so nothing new there, except for the tone of certainty. Morris is no fringe nut-job flailing away on his obscure blog; he’s a prominent Israeli historian writing on the most noted opinion page of them all, a veritable bulletin board for governing elites worldwide. As such, he is almost certainly speaking with some insight into Israeli government plans. It is, in any case, almost inconceivable that he wrote his piece without the foreknowledge and consent of Israeli government officials.
I have no problem with Israel defending itself, none at all. Israel has both a right and an obligation to do so. But it does not have the right to demand that the USA do its fighting for it; in fact, this reliance on the superior power of an ally has been quite often been disastrous for both the smaller and the greater ally.
The president and the neocons would be wise to resist Israeli pleas and threats, not only in America’s interest, but in Israel’s too. An Israel that is reliant upon American military force for its own defense is an Israel that is weaker than it should be.