Israel weighs sending Iran ‘message’
Netanyahu wants target list as officials discuss size,method of response
— Israel’s war Cabinet deliberated Monday how to respond to Iran’s unprecedented aerial assault without rankling allies and squandering an opportunity to build an international alliance against Tehran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the Israel Defense Forces to provide a target list, according to an official familiar with high-level discussions, who said Israel is mulling retaliation that would “send a message” but not cause casualties.
The options include a potential strike on a facility in Tehran or a cyberattack, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
“Everybody agrees that Israel must respond,” the official said. “How to respond, when to respond, is the question.”
The United States, United Nations and Israel’s European and regional allies have all called for restraint following the Iranian barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles overnight Saturday.
The five-hour, carefully choreographed onslaught — in response to an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed two senior commanders this month — caused limited damage after being repelled by an international alliance including the United States, France and Britain, with assistance from some countries in the Middle East.
The expansive security cooperation stood in contrast to Israel’s recent isolation over the civilian toll of its war against Hamas in Gaza, and gave the country what analysts described as a rare chance to assemble an anti-Iran coalition.
“As much as these are dire times, this is a huge opportunity,” said Udi Sommer, a politics professor at Tel Aviv University and the City University of New York. “Sometimes you get a second chance in life, and Israel just got one.”
But if Israel miscalculates, he said, prioritizing a short-term show of strength ahead of longer-term strategic considerations, the opportunity could slip away.
A restrained military response will reap rewards for Israel on the world stage, Sommer added, helping repair its frayed relationship with the United States and with its Arab neighbors.
“Israel has the ability to get this international coalition in place, keep it, and then deal with the hostage crisis and make sure that next time we look in the mirror, we see a country that we recognize.”
He pointed to the prudence of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir when faced with the threat of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s scud missiles in the 1990s, which he said helped Israel enhance regional peace treaties and strengthen international alliances.
“It had international benefits that were orders of magnitude greater than Israel would have reaped from any military attack,” he said. “Today it’s the same story.”
The United States has pledged its full support for Israel while urging de-escalation, arguing in public statements and private conversations that the successful repelling of the Iranian attack was victory enough. Washington has also emphasized that it won’t participate in whatever military response Israel is planning.
European leaders on Monday reiterated their concerns about the potential for the regional security situation to spiral. “The right thing to do is not to escalate,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a BBC interview.