A recent poll found that 61% of Israeli Jews are against attacking Iran unilaterally in order to halt an Iranian nuclear program which Iran claims is for peaceful purposes. The poll found that 54% of Israeli Jews did not believe a unilateral attack on Iran would stop any potential nuclear program, however – 75% of Israeli Jews felt that if the U.S. were to be involved in an attack on Iran … that it would have a good chance of halting Iran’s nuclear program.
You can find the poll HERE.
972Mag explains how much of a disappointment this must be for Prime Minister Netanyahu who has been beating the drums to war in Israel for quite some time now HERE:
Worse still for Netanyahu and Barak, a strong majority of the Jewish public doesn’t even trust them to make the decision: the survey, run by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, shows that barely over one-quarter (28 percent) are convinced by Barak’s message that Israel must act “before Iran attains nuclear capability.” When given a choice, 57 percent chose instead to believe the senior security echelons, who oppose an attack; even the self-identified right is split dead even on which figures to trust.
Perhaps Netanyahu’s single greatest failure on this issue is that the Israeli public rejects his cherished baby, the existential threat. Poor Netanyahu: For three years, he has been hammering away at the theme that Iran equals the holocaust of the Jewish people. He has recited this at every opportunity, almost to the exclusion of anything else. He is nothing if not “on message.”
But the Israeli public merely displays resilience.
And as the National Post is reporting … a former deputy says not only is Netanyahu planning to go to war with Iran but that it would be an unmitigated disaster HERE:
A former deputy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday a pre-emptive military strike against Iran over its nuclear program could embroil Israel in a “disastrous war.”
Shaul Mofaz, a parliamentary opposition leader who quit Netanyahu’s cabinet last month where he served as vice premier, said on Israeli television he thought Israel was “planning a hasty, irresponsible event.”
The former general and defence minister said he thought Israel could not do anything to force a strategic change in Iran’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at producing atomic weapons. Tehran says it is for peaceful purposes.
As a member of Netanyahu’s security cabinet for two months, Mofaz was privy to deliberations on Iran’s nuclear program.
He told Channel 2 television in a studio interview that any Israeli military action “can at the most delay it (Iran’s program) by about a year, and it can bring upon us a disastrous war.”
Naming both Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, he said he was “very worried at what they are preparing.” He added: “I hope very much we don’t reach such a war because it would be a disaster.”
And the Telegraph says Netanyahu is trying to attack Iran before America’s November elections to box in President Obama and give Israel leverage HERE:
Two of Israel’s most respected journalists, Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer, wrote that Netanyahu and Barak had decided to strike before the US election in November.
But they also wrote that it was not clear whether Netanyahu could muster a majority for an attack in his own cabinet given the stiff opposition from military circles.
“There is, of course, great significant to the fact that the most senior figures, the prime minister and the defense minister, are determined to pass such a decision,” they wrote in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
“It is no less significant that there is not a single senior official in the [defense] establishment, neither among the IDF top brass nor in the security branches … who supports an Israeli strike.”
Mitt Romney made it clear that he would be supporting a declaration of war by Prime Minister Netanyahu. He doesn’t use those words but his coded language is clear … if Israel goes to war with Iran even if she is the aggressor then we’ll send our troops and spend American taxpayer dollars to assist Israel in her foreign policy objectives – article HERE:
“We must not delude ourselves into thinking that containment is an option. We must lead the effort to prevent Iran from building and possessing nuclear weapons capability. We should employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course, and it is our fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so. In the final analysis, of course, no option should be excluded. We recognize Israel’s right to defend itself, and that it is right for America to stand with you.”
But when you’re the country attacking …. you’re no longer defending yourself. Former Israeli Mossad chief - Meir Dagan – called a strike on Iran “the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard”. We wrote about that HERE.
If you didn’t see his interview with Erin Burnett that is reminiscent of every Bush administration official pre-Iraq … you should HERE; an excerpt:
Burnett: How do you know what <Iran is> doing?
Netanyahu: Oh, we know.
Burnett: You know?
Netanyahu: We know and others know and we share what we know.
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[...] 61% of Israelis do not want to attack Iran unilaterally (source); they won’t do it without the support of America because they’d get their asses kicked [...]