“Maybe it’s time to change the equation?” In the aftermath of Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel, the Israeli media are asking questions. How to react ? Should we fight back? Or should we consider that the “99%” interception of missiles and drones launched by Iran is a victory in itself, as the United States has affirmed, which has also made it known that it does not want not enter into conflict with the Islamic Republic?
“Until today, Israel has not succeeded in changing the equation,” notes a journalist from the country’s leading daily Yediot Aharonot, in a column published this Sunday. “Iran is threatening. Israel is afraid. Maybe Iran should be scared instead? Perhaps it is time to clarify that even if it is difficult to hit the underground bunkers where the nuclear threat is conceived, it is however possible to deal a fatal blow to the Iranian economy, for example by paralyzing the deposits oil?”, also writes the journalist. “A confrontation 10 years ago would have been necessary. A confrontation in 10 years will be much more difficult,” he writes again.
The daily Maariv, for its part, underlines in an article on the front page of its site that Israeli planes were “already on the way” to retaliate when the American president called Benjamin Netanyahu to curb the reaction. “To all the brawlers […] who talk about an ‘unprecedented’ Israeli response and threaten the whole world, you must remember three important points,” warns a daily journalist in another article, calling for consideration of the “historic” coalition of the United States, the United Kingdom and Jordan with Israel to intercept the missiles.
The author also recalls that the Jewish state is already engaged in a war in Gaza and that Hezbollah, which did not participate “significantly” in the Iranian attack, still constitutes a great threat. “It is impossible not to respond to such an attack,” he nevertheless argues, calling, however, to take the time to “reflect.”
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“Will Netanyahu waste the strategic opportunity” given to him? In the columns of the left-wing Israeli daily Haaretz, the journalist and correspondent for The Economist in Israel judges that the government has the opportunity to reassure the Arab countries which supported it against the Iranian attack, and which are “now de facto allies”, notably by quickly ending the war in Gaza.
To do this, Netanyahu must “resist demands for immediate and unbalanced retaliation”, formulated among others by the most extremist members of the government in place, such as Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, who demanded an “overwhelming” response. .
Former general in the Israeli army, Giora Island also estimated, interviewed by the Channel N12 television channel, that the Jewish state should not rush. “Just as the Iranians kept us in suspense for more than ten days, we can also keep them in suspense,” he said, adding all the same that the country “has the possibility of not acting at all to the moment” focusing on “maintaining the dynamic” of public opinion around Israel.
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“And if Israel decided to take advantage of this opportunity to finally bomb Iran’s precious nuclear weapons program?”, asks the Jerusalem Post, which details in an article how the Israeli army could deploy its combat aviation. “Several quartets of F-35 stealth fighter jets could fly separate routes to strike sites across the immense Islamic Republic,” writes the Israeli newspaper, specifying that the fighters could pass through Syria, Turkey and the Iran despite the opposition of these countries. Israel could also have “a discreet agreement” with Saudi Arabia to breach its airspace and cross the Persian Gulf.
Israel could also use its ballistic missiles and intelligence and attack drones to first destroy the country’s anti-aircraft installations and then its nuclear facilities, even though some are “buried 80 meters underground.”
Israel will make Iran pay the price for its attack when the time is right, centrist war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said on Sunday. “We will build a regional coalition and exact a price from Iran in a way and time that suits us,” he said in a statement after a war cabinet meeting. An Israeli military source also told the New York Times that Tel Aviv’s response would be given in coordination with its allies.
