Iranian Missile Launch Shows Israeli Deterrence Is Working

by Shemuel Meir An extraordinary strategic event took place last week in the Middle East, when Iran launched surface-to-surface missiles against targets in Syria. This was the first-ever missile strike directed by Iran at a country bordering on Israel. Amazingly, all… Continue Reading

Israel, Gaza and Iran: “The Rockets’ Red Glare, the Bombs Bursting in Air”

The Gaza Strip, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt and the State of Israel, is 25 miles in long. At its narrowest point it is less than 4 miles wide, and at its maximum width, is 7.5 miles wide–a total area of 141 square miles. With a population of 1.7 million people, Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth.

Iran, whose borders include the Arabian Sea to the south, Iraq to the east, Pakistan and Afghanistan to the west, and the Caspian Sea and post-Soviet Muslim states of Central Asia to the north, has a total land mass of 636,000 square miles–about the same as Alaska or Mexico–and a population of 70 million. Yet Foreign Policy CEO and editor at large David Rothkopf recently quoted an Israeli “source close to the discussions” who claimed that an Israeli surgical strike Iranian on enrichment facilities conducted by air, utilizing bombers and drone support.“might take only ‘a couple of hours’ in the best case and only would involve a ‘day or two’ overall.” Continue Reading

Israeli Officials Acknowledge that Iran is Using Enriched Uranium for Medical Purposes

By Paul Mutter Despite the misleading headline, which says Iran has a “nuclear weapons program” even though no reputable assessment exists to support that claim, Haaretz is reporting hat Israeli defense and intelligence officials have high confidence in an International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA)… Continue Reading

Jim Is Engaged in Wishful Thinking. The Israelis Delayed the Exercise.

Jim Lobe’s suggestion the other day that the postponement of the joint maneuvers between Israel and the US might indicate “some serious distancing by the Obama administration from Israel’s provocations and possibly some serious interest in engagement with Iran” may unfortunately be premature and overly optimistic.

According to US military sources cited by Laura Rozen of Yahoo News, it was Israel, not the US that, that requested the postponement of the largest joint exercises in the history of the two countries. Continue Reading