Israel pledges response to Iran as allies push restraint
It will be the third time that the decision-making cabinet convenes since Iran attacked Israel on Saturday
JERUSALEM: Israel’s war cabinet will meet on Tuesday to discuss the response to Iran’s attack over the weekend, an Israeli official said.
No time was set for meeting, the official said. It will be the third time that the decisionmaking cabinet convenes since Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones against Israel on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Israel’s armed forces chief has vowed to respond to Iran’s unprecedented attack against the country, even after appeals for restraint poured in from world leaders fearing wider regional conflict.
During six months of war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza, Iran’s proxies around the region have stepped up attacks on Israel and its allies, saying they are acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Tensions were already high before Iran launched its firstever assault on Israeli territory, firing hundreds of missiles and drones in retaliation for a deadly April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
“This launch of so many (Iranian) missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs into the territory of the State of Israel will be met with a response,” Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said on Monday, addressing troops at the Nevatim airbase, which was hit in Iran’s Saturday night barrage.
The Israeli army has said the vast majority of the weapons were shot down -- with the help of the United States and other allies -- and the attack caused only minimal damage.
Western governments, including those that supported Israel in its defence, have warned against an escalation.
Iran has previously said it would consider the matter “concluded” unless Israel retaliated, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told his Chinese counterpart in a call on Tuesday that Iran was “willing to exercise restraint” and had no intention of further escalating tensions.
The United States has repeatedly appealed to China -- a close partner of Iran and a top buyer of its US-sanctioned oil -- to use its influence over Tehran to manage tensions in the Middle East.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the US Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway.
In Chicago, protesters linked arms and blocked lanes of Interstate 190 leading into O’Hare International Airport around 7 am in a demonstration they said was part of a global “economic blockade to free Palestine.”
Traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area was snarled for hours as demonstrators shut down all vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge and chained themselves to 55-gallon drums filled with cement across Interstate 880 in Oakland.
Protesters in Brooklyn blocked Manhattan-bound traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.
In Eugene, Oregon, protesters blocked Interstate 5, shutting down traffic on the major highway for about 45 minutes.
Among other things, they’ve called for an immediate ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.