Israel Considers Pre-Emptive Attack On Iran

Israel Considers Pre-Emptive Attack On Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to rally support in his cabinet for an attack on Iran, according to government sources.

The country's defence minister Ehud Barak and the foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman are said to be among those backing a pre-emptive strike to neutralise Iran's nuclear ambitions.

But a narrow majority of ministers currently oppose the move, which could trigger a wave of regional retaliation.

The debate over possible Israeli military action has reached fever pitch in recent days with newspaper leader columns discussing the benefits and dangers of hitting Iran.

Mr Lieberman responded to the reports of a push to gain cabinet approval by saying that "Iran poses the most dangerous threat to world order."

But he said Israel's military options should not be a matter for public discussion.

The inside of reactor at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, 1200 Kms south of Tehran, where Iran has began to unload fuel for the nuclear power plant

The reactor at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant where Iran has began to unload fuel for the nuclear power plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is due to report on the state of Iran’s nuclear capabilities on November 8, and that assessment is likely to influence Israel’s decision.

Western intelligence officials estimate that Iran is still at least two to three years away from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

Israel has long made it clear that it will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear capability that could threaten the Jewish State.

Publicly it is pushing for a diplomatic offensive against Iran - including the imposition of sanctions - rather than a military strike.

But prime minister Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that all options are on the table.

Israel's former defence minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Haraatez newspaper that he feared a "horror scenario" if Israel attacked Iran.

Washington is also strongly opposed to Israel taking unilateral action.

Any strike on Iran could trigger retaliation from Iran and across the region.

Syria, a close ally of Tehran, could also launch attacks, along with the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia in Lebanon.

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16101552

Israel is insane, if they allow Iran to produce a nuclear weapon. The Iranians have made plenty of death threats. Israel doesn't have to let them take the first shots.

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All of Israel's strikes have always been "pre-emptive.

 

Even in 1948.

 

Yeah.. Israel began firebombings in Haifa in December 1947..

 

Ah! 1948 is now 1947. Even before Israeli existence when the British mandate was in force.

Never stop trying, do you Margot?

 

Israel and the US have already assassinated 4 of Irans top nuclear experts. They know what they are doing. Iran is a plague that must be stopped. I cant wait for Israel to silence those muslims murderers!!

 

Ah, the New Klansmen have themselves another war to drool over. Let's hope they lose it.

 

More saber rattling.

Israel would have to be insane to attack Iran at a time like this.

 

What was the first preemptive strike by Israel? 48? No? After that Israel has had the right to preempt/prevent as much as was needed.

It's a possibility that Iranians killed those guys for the good of Iran.

 

Their nuclear ambitions are a long long way off. I would prefer to attack them when it is much closer to reality:

a) you get more support with more hardened evidence

b) you let Iran waste more money in the building of the infrastructure before it's blown away. That money will not come back easily.



I think the only real reason to attack now is that you may be worried that the evidence (noted in point "a" above), never comes true, but rather evidence AGAINST a strike appears.



On a side note, is it then possible for Iran, or an ally of Iran, to perform a pre-emtpive strike on Israel to stop them attacking Iran? That would be just as fair, would it not?

 

Indeed Margot. The Zionists will once again attempt to BS the world that its first-strike attack was defensive in nature and that it is allowed to do so because Iran was about to attack it.

It will be just as illegal and aggressive as its "defensive" responses in 1956, in 1967 and in 1982. Iran shows as much real intent of attacking Israel in November 2011 as Egypt showed in June 1967.

In fact it is Israel who is doing the threatening and therefore, if one were to accept the debunked Zionist excuse that Israel's June 1967 attack was legal, Iran should now be within its rights to attack Israel. Bibi is acting just like Nassar did back then. But, no, that reasoning is only allowed to operate in one direction, isn't it!!

 

What we could do with here is for the Russians to openly reinforce Iran, for Turkey and Iraq to forbid overflights and for Egypt to close Suez to all pro-Zionist shipping. WW3 ? Weren't you forewarned that peace is an existential threat to Zionism ?

 

All of Israel's strikes have been retaliatory and defensive against overt Arab aggression.

 

A patent falsehood, the juvenile rhetoric of sycophantic neoZionist fan-boys.

 

Closing the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping would be a violation of the 1973 ceasefire and an act of war. As to overflights Israel can simply uses in flight refueling and fly out of the Gulf of Aqaba and use a oversea route to Iran.

 

An undeniable fact.

 

The wars in '56, '67, and '82 followed hundreds of Fedayeen and PLO terrorist attacks, the Fedayeen had been trained, armed, and funded by the Egyptian government and the PLO was acting with impunity out of operational bases in Lebanon due too the turmoil and chaos of the Lebanese civil war, these were defensive actions. Not to mention that Egypt illegal blockaded the straits of Tiran in '67 which itself was an act of war.

No it is Iran which openly calls for the eradication of the state of Israel and who funds, arms, and trains Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad who they use to commit several clandestine acts of war against the state of Israel bi-proxy.

 

Two words..."Bull" and "Crap".

 

And Iranian scientists tend to be blown up by magic.

 

I thought Pakistan's nuclear testing surprised the Clinton admin.? So, how are you going to know when to attack?


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Two more directed at you, 'your' and 'wrong'.

Stupid story being run to generate anti-Israeli sentiment. Both Israel and Iran would have well developed plans for attack, and the plans would have equipment and people trained and in place to carry them out. Its just Israelis plans are to remove a weapon system that is a threat to Israel, whilst the Iranians want to remove the entire nation of Israel.

 

Exactly. On a pragmatic and strategic level, it would much wiser to attack preemptively earlier rather than later. As far as "proof", if the attack is done successfully, there may not be any evidence left over. Certainly not by the time inspectors sifted through the rubble.

Israel doesn't have much to lose. Whats the worse that can happen? Islamic extremists will be threaten to wipe Israel off the map? LOL That has been a daily rant by neighbors for decades..........

If Israel were smart, they would simultaneously make a strike at al-Assad allowing the fledgling protestors to regime change Syria...

 

I support Israel for the most part, but they need to cut the crap and stop pushing for war with Iran. The virus attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities has proved there are other ways to take care this problem.

 

They will want to achieve it with conventional (non-WMD) ordnance, which means perfect targetting (ideal weather & intel). Nuclear stuff should be left for counter-strikes if things start to escalate. I cannot imagine Israel would consider nuke first strike under any circumstance. Its just fear mongering my the muslim world to rally sympathy and faux-justify aggression and hatred.

 

Not a bad option. I disagree with the notion that Israel being concerned with the opinion of the Muslim world. It shouldn't be a factor at all. They are already despised. They already have 2 fronts an active one with Hamas and Gaza, and a simmering one with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Egypt has opened the Southern Gaza border.

The dealing with Assad at the same time might pacify Syrian protesters, blunt Irans influence, and temporarily assuage Europe who will begin howling within days.

I don't see any of Israel's neighbors hating them any worse than they already do. Sure they will make the usual paper tiger empty threats but they mean nothing.