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

Avihu Ben-Nun on Iran

Marsha Cohen, Lobe Log’s resident Israel-Iran relations expert, tells me that while the 11th Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force, Avihu Ben-Nun, is not an important figure in current Israeli foreign policy debates, his viewpoints are reflective of those… Continue Reading

Gen. Martin Dempsey chided for calling Iran “rational”

Recent comments about Iran by the top-ranking military officer in the US have been criticized by Israel and some Washington-based voices. On Sunday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that he’s been “confronting” the question of whether… Continue Reading