(The Age, 18/4/2024)
Hey here’s an idea – why doesn’t Israel agree to a a peaceful answer – allow Palestinians freedom from occupation, give right of return to those whose land and homes were illegally taken, integrate into one society and treat Palestinians as human beings and stop all killing and illegal imprisonment – now that is what a democratic Government would do – but sadly democracy left the building in Israel some 75+ years ago – Mark
By Ronen Bergman, Isabel Kershner, Julian E. Barnes and Russell Goldman
Tel Aviv: Israeli leaders are debating how best to respond to Iran’s unprecedented weekend airstrike, officials said, weighing a set of options calibrated to achieve different strategic outcomes: deterring a similar attack in the future, placating their American allies and avoiding all-out war.
Iran’s attack on Israel, an immense barrage that included hundreds of ballistic missiles and exploding drones, changed the unspoken rules in the arch-rivals’ long-running shadow war. Previously, major airstrikes from one country’s territory directly against the other had been avoided.
Given the change in precedent, the calculus by which Israel decided its next move had also changed, said the Israeli officials who requested anonymity to discuss Iran.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson for Israel’s military, said: “We cannot stand still from this kind of aggression.”
Iran, he added, would not get off “scot-free with this aggression”.
As Israel’s war cabinet met to consider a military response, other countries were applying diplomatic pressure to both Israel and Iran in the hopes of de-escalating the conflict.
Almost all the missiles and drones fired in Iran’s attack on Sunday were intercepted by Israel and its allies, including the United States, France and Britain.
The attack, Iran said, was a response to an Israeli airstrike this month, in which several armed forces commanders were killed in an attack in Syria. That attack on an Iranian embassy building in Damascus was different enough from previous targeted assassinations of individuals in the shadow war that it provided Iran with an opportunity to recalibrate its own red lines.
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