'No One More Cowardly': Israel War Cabinet Weighs Attack on Iran Despite US Cautioning
© AFP 2023 / JIM WATSON
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While the Biden administration has shown intense loyalty to Israel in their fight with Hamas - even at the risk of losing favor among its own political party - the US is now cautioning Israel to not escalate its ongoing conflict with Iran, following a retaliatory attack from the Islamic Republic over the weekend.
On Tuesday Israel’s war cabinet met to discuss a potential response to Iran’s strike on Saturday, but did not come to a conclusion. But on Wednesday, the Israeli prime minister said that Israel would decide on its own how to respond to Iran’s retaliatory attack, despite advice from its Western allies. Meanwhile the US has been urging Israel to show restraint.
Laith Marouf, a journalist and political commentator, joined Sputnik’s The Final Countdown on Wednesday to discuss the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as the possibility of the US being dragged into the mess.
“It's clear from the statements of the Israeli government that they will be retaliating for Iran's retaliation [over the weekend]. And, the Iranians said that they will hit back immediately if they are targeted. So this is right now, clearly, if Israel attacks Iran, we will be having a full-out war in the region,” said Marouf.
Sputnik’s Angie Wong noted that US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the US will impose new sanctions on Iran’s “missile and drone program” and entities that support the country’s military program as punishment for its attack on Israel, according to an American news source.
“The equipment that the Israelis have can't actually spot Hezbollah's drones,” said Marouf, who added that Hezbollah has been using weapons not seen before. “We're seeing a change in how Hezbollah is acting, how Israel is acting and also this showed us today that the drones coming from Lebanon will not be intercepted. There will be no time for Israel to figure out where the drones are coming from, like the ones coming from Iran that take a few hours to reach because of the distance. In a full-out war with Hezbollah, Israel will have no chance to intercept anything.”
Sputnik’s Ted Rall then noted how US President Joe Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “take the win” regarding the West’s interception of Iran’s attack. Israel, however, has signaled that they will continue to escalate the conflict.
“For Israel, its strategic call is permanency as a colony. And already we can see right now the permanency of Israel is in question," said Marouf. "We also can see right now that if Hezbollah enters into an air battle with the Zionists, following the strategy of Iran, they could destroy the Israeli Air Force."
“And, Netanyahu would like to wait for Trump for that full-out war, but he has no choice but to activate it now," he added. “Therefore, he's going to pull Biden with him into this war. And believe me, the US will be siding with Israel, and that means a full-out regional war. American bases will be targeted. American ships will be targeted. I think everybody in the US should get themselves ready mentally for seeing American troops coming back in coffins."
“In six months, we've seen, again, ground forces of Israel defeated in Gaza,” he continued. “Israel right now has been demoted from being a regional power into really a full vassal, just like Bahrain, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates that cannot protect itself.
“[Israel] cannot exist without the direct military protection of the US, the UK, France and others. If that protection wasn't there, there would be no Israel. Therefore, Netanyahu has no choice but to pull the Americans into it. And, clearly, the US elites do not want to give up this apartheid state. They do not want to let go of it like they did let go of South Africa.
Rall then pressed Marouf on his statement claiming that Israel has loss the ground war to Hamas, adding that the IDF has “obliterated, flattened two-thirds or three-quarters of the Gaza Strip” and that “tens of thousands of Gazans have been officially killed”.
“It's very easy to kill civilians. It's very easy to carpet bomb whole neighborhoods from the air, and that's what Israel is good at. It's good at killing civilians that are not combating it - children, women, unarmed delivery people in their homes, destroying mosques and hospitals and universities,” Marouf explained.
“But when the Israeli military entered Gaza, they were faced with huge resistance and they lost so many of their armaments. In fact, some estimates say that the Israeli military ground forces lost 90% of their armored vehicles. Meaning, tanks, APCs and their armored Caterpillar tractors. Now Israel has lost most of that in this battle with the resistance in Gaza, and they had to withdraw,” he added.
“But come to a real fight, there is no one more cowardly as a soldier on this planet than an Israeli soldier. And that battle of 25,000 fighters in Gaza versus a half a million Israelis, proves to you that that's the fact.”
