The Washington Post reports that Israel didn’t give the U.S. advance warning about the strike on the Iranian consulate last week that killed seven people, including a high-ranking IRGC general:
Senior Pentagon officials were frustrated that Israel did not notify the United States before conducting a strike on an Iranian site in Syria this month, an escalation that they assess increases risks to American forces in the Middle East, U.S. officials said.
When a client is trying to trap its patron into fighting a war against a regional rival, it isn’t going to give the patron a heads-up about the provocative action it plans to take. Senior military officials may feel frustrated, but it seems that their superiors aren’t paying any attention. The president reaffirmed that the U.S. commitment to Israel is “ironclad” and according to the readout of their recent call the Secretary of Defense told his Israeli counterpart that he “could count on full U.S. support to defend Israel against Iranian attacks,” so the administration is rewarding Netanyahu for his rogue, illegal action.
The U.S. shouldn’t lift a finger to support Israel if Iran retaliates, as I explain in my column this week. The Israeli strike in Damascus was a gross violation of international law and a flagrant act of aggression. If another government launched an attack like this on a U.S. or allied diplomatic facility, practically everyone in Washington would be demanding harsh reprisals. If Iran had attacked an Israeli embassy or consulate this way, American politicians would be lining up to denounce the attack as terrorism.
If Iran responds in kind, it will be reacting to an attack on their diplomatic facility. Iran will be the one defending itself in this case. The U.S. shouldn’t be helping to defend the government that launched the original attack. The U.S. certainly shouldn’t be putting its forces in harm’s way when it has no formal obligation to come to Israel’s aid. If a non-ally picks a fight with another country, that is their mistake and they can deal with the consequences.
Read the rest of the article at Eunomia
Daniel Larison is a contributing editor for Antiwar.com and maintains his own site at Eunomia. He is former senior editor at The American Conservative. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, World Politics Review, Politico Magazine, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and was a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Lancaster, PA. Follow him on Twitter.
Biden walks into Netanyahu’s giant mousetrap. He and AIPAC planted that trap and Biden and his administration got caught in it and do not want to get out.
Netanyahu is endangering the Israeli People and other Mideast People by expanding the war in Gaza to lure Iran and possibly other nations into a much wider war.
Biden is the dog wagging its tail and Netanyahu is his flea.
Does the dog wag its tail or does the tail wag the dog…
Anyone who thinks Washington wasn’t informed about the Iranian Consulate hit is delusional. This war is PLANNED, folks – both by Israel AND the US government.
Get a clue.
Apr 7, 2024 Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran: How US empire creates its own enemies
Each day brings fresh horrors from the ground in Gaza as Israel’s brutal genocide continues with the full backing of the US. Yet Israel is not operating with complete impunity.
https://youtu.be/gLyoB7VI1_A?si=2k6KsSBU3gdPXlzo
Biden says the USA will defend Israel and no one is invading. If Israel insists on playing violent games with Iran, we should just watch and ask both sides to stop. I think we will because we have 10,000 American soldiers and civilians in Iraq and Syria that Iran has threatened to attack if the USA attacks Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoxJZqKPciU
Such bombing attacks and retaliations by Israel and by Iran, create the risk of a spiral of violence and could lead to a wider war.
Was it all planned for a purpose?
John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser has said on CNN that the Israeli Netanyahu government should take advantage of the pretext of an Iran’s retaliating attack on Israel to destroy Iranian nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities, its primary goal for years. Is this also President Joe Biden’s idea?
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/04/14/iran-missile-attack-israel-deterrence-biden-us-bolton-sotu-vpx.cnn
“Biden” walks into no trap other than the next sand bag on the floor of the next platform he mounts or live microphone he encounters. Whoever is walking into a “trap” is (a) Deep State controller(s): walking in with at least a limited notion of where some of the mines are. Their “intelligence” WRT the latter is a function both of their intentions and of their actual intelligence. P.J. O’Rourke wrote a book about our Parliament of Whores. Had he lived long enough, his sequel would have been titled The Executive of Dunces.