Is Israel Preparing an Iran Attack?

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech today to open the Knesset’s winter section focused on the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran—not exactly the sort of thing to disprove the chatter coming out of Israel that a military strike is in the offing. A top Defense Ministry adviser was quoted, “Iran is our central threat.” Hmmm.

A prime source of the rumors has been Yediot Ahronoth columnist Nahum Barnea, who last Friday pointed out that Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the frequently feuding prime and defense ministers, appear in total agreement on this question. “Netanyahu phrased the equation at the beginning of his term: Ahmadinejad is Hitler; if he is not stopped in time, there will be a Holocaust,” Barnea writes. “He has dreamed of being Churchill his entire life. Iran provides him with the opportunity. The popularity that he gained as a result of the Shalit deal hasn’t calmed him: just the opposite, it gave him a sense of power. Barak does not use the same superlatives but is pushing for a military action: he is certain that just as Israel prevented nuclear projects in the past, it must prevent this one as well.”

The next landmark is likely to be the release in November of an International Atomic Energy Agency report showing Iranian progress on the nuclear front. Already, the United States is reportedly trying to head off drastic Israeli action once that report comes out, in part by trying to leverage more nonmilitary pressure on Iran in the meantime.

But Haaretz military correspondent Amir Oren argues there is only one person who can forestall an Israeli attack should it come down to it: the president (and Nextbook Press author!) Shimon Peres.

Israeli Premier Says Iran Continues to Seek Atomic Weapons, Warns of Danger From Nuclear Iran [AP/WP]
U.S. Fears Unilateral Israeli Strike on Iran [Ynet]
An Attack on Iran Would Be a Disaster for Israel [Haaretz]