SLEEPWALKING INTO CATASTROPHE
Biden privately fears ‘catastrophic escalation’ as Israel draws up plans to attack Iran in retaliation for 350-missile attack: Trump slams ailing president’s ‘weakness’ as experts warn America is ‘sleepwalking into another war’.
President Joe Biden is said to be privately fearing a potentially ‘catastrophic escalation’ as the Israeli government plans a retaliatory attack on Iran.
Iran bombarded Israel with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday in response to a drone strike in Syria that killed 12 Iranians, including two top generals.
The strike marks the first time a direct military assault has been launched by Tehran on Israel - despite decades enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Senior US defense officials have told NBC News that they worry an Israeli response to the attacks would be ‘frenetic’ and ‘catastrophically escalatory’.
Three senior administration officials have also told NBC that Biden had privately expressed concern that Netanyahu is trying to pull the US into the conflict.
Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a late-night phone call on Saturday and made it clear that US forces would not participate any further.
Republican hopeful Donald Trump, however, has instead vowed that he would ‘make Iran pay’ for the attack - and claimed that such an escalation on the world stage would have never happened in the first place if he was in the Oval Office.
Biden has urged Netanyahu not to respond to the attacks by retaliating against Iran.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s war cabinet is in favor of a reaction but is divided over the timing and scale of any such response, according to reports.
The White House is said to believe that the Israelis are not looking for a direct war with Iran.
An Israeli official in Netanyahu’s office said: “Israel can’t allow such a large attack over Israel without some kind of response be it small or large.”
U.S. forces assisted Israel in shooting down dozens of drones and missiles fired by Iran, in what was the first time it had launched a direct military assault on Israel.
Israeli authorities said 99 per cent of the inbound weapons were shot down without causing any significant damage.
The push to encourage Israel to show restraint mirrored ongoing American efforts to curtail Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which is now in its seventh month. On Saturday evening, Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters in Pennsylvania that the attack on Israel happened because the ‘U.S. show great weakness’.
The former president told the rally in Schnecksville: “It would not have happened if I were in office. Today we are considered a joke. It’s not going to be for long, believe me.”
In an email to supporters on Sunday, the former President wrote: ‘Crooked Joe is asleep at the wheel! AMERICA IS NOT SAFE. Israel is UNDER ATTACK from Iran!
‘This would NEVER HAVE HAPPENED, ZERO CHANCE if your favorite President, me, was in the Oval OffiCe.’
Fawaz Gerges, professor of International Relations and Middle Eastern Politics at the London School of Economics criticized Biden’s ability to translate his concerns into influence over Israel.
He told NBC: “The strategy of the Biden administration has failed miserably. Biden is sleepwalking the U.S. into another catastrophic war in the Middle East.
“His overarching goal of preventing the war in Gaza from escalating into neighboring countries has failed.
“Biden has failed to influence Netanyahu’s decisions either in Gaza or towards Iran.”