Israel Beefs Up Military Readiness

Some view the actions as preparing for war on several fronts, but it could be just more posturing

Israel’s Defense Force is said to be beefing up its defensive capacities and preparing for the possibility of an armed conflict on several fronts, just days after top Israeli officials got in another diplomatic clash on how imminent a threat Iran presents.

The military is “dispersing rations, munitions and strategic supplies among facilities nationwide in order to protect them during wartime,” reports the Israeli Ynet News.

“The IDF plans to store tens of thousands of rations and non-classified ordnances in private locations nationwide,” Ynet News added, “as the location of the major bases is known and they may be targeted by enemy rockets.”

While these could be somewhat ordinary military preparations in what is a hyper-militarized state, some have interpreted these actions as preparations for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran or its allies following some potential Israeli attack on Iran.

The Obama administration reiterated yesterday that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program and that they would know if Iran actually made the decision to begin developing weapons. This was an apparent rebuke to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s claim on Thursday that new US intelligence “transforms the Iranian situation into an even more urgent one.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney would not comment on any alleged new intelligence, other than to reiterate that the US estimate on Iran’s program hasn’t changed from the reigning consensus, that weaponization was halted back in 2003.

Officials in Washington were reportedly “livid” with the unilateral Israeli leak of US intelligence. The incident underscored the apparent distrust between the Obama administration and that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose administration is frustrated with Obama’s lack of will to attack Iran for a nuclear weapons program it doesn’t have.

Another possibility is that Netanyahu’s administration is just posturing. But he doesn’t have US support for a unilateral attack at the moment, and the Israeli defense establishment, including many current and former military officials, seems to be strongly against an attack at the moment as well.

Author: John Glaser

John Glaser writes for Antiwar.com.