Netanyahu Pushes Cabinet to Back Attack on Iran

State Department Fears Israel May Attack Unilaterally

Israel is often said to be a nation with an eye constantly on its next war. But with an invasion of the Gaza Strip apparently already in the offing, the nation seems to have its eyes on more than one future war, with an attack on Iran also being pushed.

Top Israeli officials familiar with the situation say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has redoubled his efforts to convince the rest of his cabinet to back an attack on Iran, and that he has finally won over hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to his side.

Ministers insisted no decision has been made yet on the attack, but with Defense Minister Ehud Barak already on board, the effort to muster a majority of the cabinet seems to be going quite well. Other ministers also agree on the attack in theory but have expressed a preference that the Israeli government convince the US to attack instead.

The decision might come sooner than we expect too, as Western analysts say that winter cloud cover would make an Israeli attack extremely inconvenient for several months and might convince them to launch in the next few weeks in an effort to beat the weather.

The US is also said to be extremely concerned about a unilateral Israeli attack and is channeling that concern into pressing for more and more sanctions against Iran, with officials believing that new sanctions would convince Israel that the international community is sticking it to Iran sufficiently that a full on military attack can wait a few more months.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.