Posted on 04/07/2010 9:34:30 AM PDT by Strategy
Israel will be compelled to attack Iran's nuclear weapons facilities by this November unless the U.S. and its allies enact "crippling sanctions that will undermine the regime in Tehran," former deputy defense minister Brig. Gen. Ephraim Sneh said on Wednesday in Tel Aviv.
The sanctions currently being discussed with Russia, China, and other major powers at the United Nations are likely to be a slightly-enhanced version of the U.N. sanctions already in place, which have had no impact on the Iranian regime.
And despite unanimous passage of the Iran Petroleum Sanctions act in January, the Obama administration continues to resist efforts by Congress to impose mandatory sanctions on companies selling refined petroleum products to Iran.
In an Op-Ed in the Israeli left-wing daily, Haaretz, Sneh argues that Iran will probably have "a nuclear bomb or two" by 2011.
"An Israeli military campaign against Iran's nuclear installations is likely to cripple that country's nuclear project for a number of years. The retaliation against Israel would be painful, but bearable."
Sneh believes that the "acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran during Obama's term would do him a great deal of political damage," but that the damage to Obama resulting from an Israeli strike on Iran "would be devastating."
Nevertheless, he writes, "for practical reasons, in the absence of genuine sanctions, Israel will not be able to wait until the end of next winter, which means it would have to act around the congressional elections in November, thereby sealing Obama's fate as president."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I don’t think they’ll get flyover rights. I think it will be cruise missiles from the Persian Gulf off an Israeli naval vessel.
In the past, the US might prefer Israel to do it’s own deed for deniability reasons, and that is partially true now. However, don’t look for the Obama admin to cozy up to Israel after a strike. Quite the opposite. The Obama admin is going to be carrying Palestinian signs and chanting.
If they do, I suspect 0 will nuke Israel back.
“off an Israeli naval vessel.”
Cruise missiles would simplify logistics and be less vulnerable to SAMs, but I thought that given the number of targets, a non-trivial number of attack aircraft were being contemplated. If so, do the Israelis really have the capability to substitute the equivalent number of cruise missiles without detection by Iran? This would appear to require more than a single ship and a flotilla needed to launch hundreds of cruise missiles wouldn’t exactly be invisible.
If flyover rights are an issue and cruise missiles available, wouldn’t launching ALCMs that would cross Iraq undetectable or at least uninterceptible be equally effective? I don’t pretend to have an in-depth knowledge of Israeli capabilities, force levels etc. so whatever posture might be hypothetically best may well not match whatever weapons they actually have deployed etc.
Please wait until November 5th. I don’t want to energize our anti-war left before the election. Our right, who would cheer this, are already energized.
Make that the 10th. Election is Nov. 9th.
I've overlapped that set of prophecies with those of the Kings of North and South in Dan. 11 (I believe that all of the prophecies surrounding Antiochus Epimanes will play out again, not just the one "Abomination of Desolation" line), and a few others and come to the tenative conclusion that the "Red Horse" war is a war between a Russian/Iranian/Turkish/European alliance and the Arabs, with Israel caught in the middle. In this scenario, America (tentatively identified as a young lion of Tarshish and as "Kittim" in Dan. 11) would be on the Arab side.
This scenario begs the question of why the Arabs protest against an incursion into Israel and why the "King of the North" makes an early covenant with her. One possibility that presents itself is that the standoff we're now facing is not the direct lead-in to Gog/Magog. Rather, its the pre-game show.
Your scenario where Israel's strike is publicly excoriated but privately supported by America, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and everyone else threatened by the possibility of Iran getting nukes is one that I've considered likely for a long time. The Arabs hate Israel, but they know the Jews aren't going to threaten them the way Iran currently does. At the same time, they've spent so much resource and credibility setting up the Jews as the boogyman with their own populations that they can't turn around and embrace them now.
So one could easily end up with a situation in which Israel becomes the unofficial, unrecognized, secretly-funded guardian of the Middle-east. Suddenly, the need for a person from the north to make some kind of covenant with Israel as a gateway to expanding his power into the Middle-east makes a kind of sense.
Of course, this idea is subject to continual revision as my understanding of prophecy and events on the ground grows, so take it with a whole box of kosher salt. Acts 17:11 definitely applies here.
Shalom.
Blah, blah, blah...
So this time Israel is giving them 6 months notice? ( : < 0
This could be a trick. Maybe they will let the story leak out that they plan an attack in several months but then attack much sooner. Just a thought I guess.
This guy IS Netanyahu’s Albright. Sneh is a pro-Pali leftist.
When the defensive preemptive measures against Iran take place they take place. Anyone throwing out general time-frames or targeted dates are hopefully do so in order to transmit disinformation at the Iranian régime, so when the real zero hour arrives to deal with Iran’s (Russian assisted) nuclear weapons threat, Tehran’s Islamic tyrants will be caught off guard.
Israel will be compelled to attack Iran's nuclear weapons facilities by this November unless the U.S. and its allies enact "crippling sanctions that will undermine the regime in Tehran," former deputy defense minister Brig. Gen. Ephraim Sneh said on Wednesday in Tel Aviv.November... November... seems like there's something I've gotta remember to do in November...
The limiting factor, as I see it, is that no country will permit flyover. I do not see any at all.
Therefore, the only way to avoid flyover is either ocean or space-based. I’ve not heard that the Israelis have any space-based weaponry other than ICMB, which they do have but will not use.
Cruise, ship-based aircraft, and ship-launched commandos are the only weapons I know they have that can come directly from the Persian Gulf. Their cruise and icbms can be nuclear-tipped.
As long as Israel actually has what it takes.
Would be interesting if Israel can work something out with Saudi Arabia, which is usually Israel’s enemy, but which may be even more afraid of Iran now. (Iran is majority Shiite Islam, Saudi Arabia is Sunni, and the two sects do NOT play well together.) If Israel can land, take off, refuel, and overfly in Saudi Arabia, it’s prolly game over for Iran.
Wouldn’t be so sure about Saudi Arabia. They’re scared stiff of Iran.
That would mean:
1. That the Saudi option would open up another set of delivery systems.
2. That since Saudi is scared stiff, that Saudi would also be too scared to oppose Iran, especially if they thought Israel had other options.
For (1) yes I would expect Israel could carry what it needed into Saudi Arabia in multiple trips if necessary before jumping on Iran
For (2) Saudi Arabia has jet fighters, but not the capacity to wipe out all Iran’s nuke operations. It would need Israel’s help.
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