Pawns? F-15 on takeoff (Illustration)
Photo: Reuters
Who will blink first?
America using Israel’s military power to scare Iranians, Europeans
The American Administration is using us to scare others. Scare who? The Europeans? The Iranians? The United Nations? It doesn’t matter. The most important thing is to create an atmosphere of looming crisis vis-à-vis Iran with fateful consequences for the entire world.
Israel’s strategic military power is used as a pawn by the US Administration in order to bring this crisis to the edge of a flare-up – until someone blinks first. There is nothing spontaneous or coincidental here. It looks like a “controlled crisis” on both sides: The American and the Iranian.
Facts & Figures
Yitzhak Benhorin
Israel enjoys low level of support in 18 countries; support for Palestinians much higher
The Americans and Europeans are engaged in secret talks with Tehran parallel to the sanctions. And when the time comes to pull out the weapon of military madness, what’s more convenient than Israel? The message is clear: Give up your nuclear ambitions and you shall receive plenty of good things. Yet keep in mind that we are holding back those crazy Israelis, and we cannot keep on restraining them for long.
Unpredictable and insane
For Iran, Israel is an unpredictable, insane, and irresponsible country that possesses nuclear weapons, disregards international law, and does not hesitate to attack nuclear reactors. Therefore, the Israeli Air Force has become the threat hovering above Ahmadinejad’s head.Israel is also an excellent weapon vis-à-vis the Russians, Chinese, and others who are still hesitating on the Iranian question: The Israelis may end up bombing Iran and stirring up the entire fundamentalist world. If you don’t help us solve the Iranian problem, we cannot restrain them for long, and then we shall all be in trouble. It is better to press the Iranians and make the Israelis give up on the military option, which they are not hiding.
The Americans published the story of the IDF aerial exercise at the Aegean Sea and leaked Pentagon estimates regarding a window of opportunity that is closing down, and that in less than a year Israel will strike Iran in order to stop Tehran’s nuclear program at the last moment. These are only the first stages of the military threats.
The problem is that these types of threats have their own dynamics, and they may end up fulfilling themselves. What will happen if the Iranians do not blink?
