On Monday, without offering evidence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran for an explosion that hit an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman last Thursday and said Israel was “striking” the Islamic Republic across the region.
“It is indeed an Iranian act, that’s clear,” Netanyahu said of the blast in an interview with Israel’s Kan broadcaster. “As for a reaction — you know my policy. Iran is Israel’s greatest enemy, I’m determined to block it, we’re striking at it throughout the region.”
Netanyahu’s comments came a day after Israel bombed Damascus, Syria. Israeli officials rarely comment on airstrikes in Syria, but when they do, they frame the strikes as attacks on Iranian targets, although they usually hit Iraqi Shia militias. While some are speculating this airstrike could be retaliation for the ship explosion, Israeli airstrikes in Syria happen all the time.
For their part, Iran strongly rejected Israel’s accusation. “We strongly reject this accusation… the security of the Persian Gulf is extremely important for Iran,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.
Last week’s blast left two holes in the hull of the cargo ship MV Helios Ray and did not disable the vessel or cause any injuries to the crew. Netanyahu was not the first Israeli official to blame Iran. On Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi pinned the incident on Iran. Kochavi also provided no evidence for the claim.
Israel was already striking Iran across the region, everywhere it could reach.
Will we see a new capability?
If we do, we can expect to see Iran without the restraining concern to ignore Trump for an incoming Biden. They’ll do things right back.
Is that what we want? Well, it is what Netanyahu wants. But how about the US?
AIPAC will make America’s final decision on any matter relating to Israel
re: They’ll do things right back.
Iran usually doesn’t act as the West would act, or as we might expect it to act. It gets even, but in more subtle ways, and it has worked for many years. Iran now has wide control in the Middle East, and is still trending that way.
This small incident with the ship hardly makes up for the 500+ strikes Israel has already carried out in Syria
Where is the evidence that Iran was responsible for that ship’s blast? Meanwhile, Israel is free to kill/attack anyone anywhere anytime it pleases! Judging from history, it is not Israel’s neighbors that attack Israel but the other way around. So why does this situation persist where the aggressor always gets a free pass and the victims have to have their hands tied lest they be considered “anti-Semitic”!
“Judging from history? how about 1948 and 1973-clearly, the Arabs were the aggressors. In 1967, the war started after the Egyptian President stated “our mission is to destroy Israel”, and cut off access to international waterways. What history are you talking about?
bibi is bonkers-then again ruling an illegal state of apartheid, occupation and denial well,what do we expect?
This is akin to a serial rapist going to the courts to complain that one of his victms scratched him during a rape…
Didn’t disable the vessel or cause any injuries. Hmmm. A cheap and easy false flag that pays big dividends.
prove it.
Prove what? Just tossing a fact based scenario out there. Never put any names to the scenario. So I don’t know what there is to prove. Kind of like this one:
“It is indeed an Iranian act, that’s clear,” Netanyahu said
Oops, bad example, Bibi did names.
“It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region” — Grand Ayatola Khamenei, Jan 2001. Thousands of Iranian chant “Death to Israel!” “Death to Israel!” is printed on Iranian missiles. Soleimani boasted of helping Hezbollah in the 2006 war against Israel. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered to help anyone willing to attack Israel. That’s war mongering!
Israel wants good relations with Iran. Israel wants to buy Iranian oil & Israel wants to sell Israeli goods to Iran.
Got anything besides the usual spammy copy and paste? It’s old and repetitive.
“Cause your readers refuse to listen to the truth-repetition is necessary.
OK, then I’ll keep bringing up the truth: Israel is an authoritarian, perpetually belligerent, apartheid, welfare queen, garrison, ethno-religious state. Iran is only 3 1/2 of those six things.
“apartheid”-it is totally reasonable to separate yourself from those who want to kill you. “Belligerence”- who attacked who in 1948 and 1973?
I didn’t put apartheid in quotes because it doesn’t belong in quotes. If you want to defend apartheid as reasonable, feel free to try to do so. But it’s the only plausible descriptor for an ethno-state in which the ruling ethnic group has the ruled ethnic group into its areas during the day to do menial work then banishes the ruled ethnic group to fake “homeland” areas at night, traveling over road systems segregated by ethnic usage rules, etc.
You must have missed the part where I noted that most of the other regimes in the area are, to one degree or another, “belligerent” as well. The only real difference there is that when the other states get violent, they don’t play crybully games and pretend what they’re doing is “self-defense.”
138,000 Palestinians cross over to Israel to work in Israeli factories, agriculture, they get paid the same normal wages. If there is peace there could be 3X as many workers. The Palestinian Authority will not allow any more. All of these falls hoods should stop. The 2.2 million Israeli Arabs live under some of the most highest standards living of any Arab in the middle eat.
Why support an apartheid government wrongly extending its lethal power over helpless Palestinians, a government that has total power over the US Congress, and a government that as Iran has said should no longer exist?
A free people will not bow down to tyranical Iran.
Which free people would that be? The Israeli regime bans opposition political parties, imprisons people who blow the whistle on its rogue nuclear weapons program, censors the press, and refuses to either cease occupying other people’s land or give those people citizenship with full civil and political rights.
Are Iran and the Arab states also authoritarian regimes? Yes. But they aren’t quite the crybullies that the Israeli regime is.
Total lie about Israel, no evidence whatsover
Which claim to you want evidence for?
“The Israeli regime bans opposition political parties” — https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-bans-arab-parties-and-liberal-candidate-from-coming-elections/256120/
“imprisons people who blow the whistle on its rogue nuclear weapons program” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Vanunu
“censors the press” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Israel
If I’m incorrect and Israel has either withdrawn from the foreign soil it has occupied since 1967 or given the residents of that soil full citizenship rights, please let me know.
No matter how many times you repeat the same misinformation, it will not make it true. Israeli Arabs have their own political party and have 14 members in their Knesset ( Parliament) In 1967 Israel was attacked by Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and other Arab contingencies. At that time the so called West Bank was administered by Jordan. To repel Jordan Israel had to go through the West Bank, after the cease fire, Israel offered Jordan to take back the West Bank, they refused, the UN dint want to anything with the problem either. Since 1967, Israel has offered Statehood to the Palestinians in which more then 98% of the West Bank would become the the New State. It was refused every time. In 1993 the Oslo Accords were held to to establish peace and Statehood for Palestine, Israel was evern willing to go back to the 1967 borders with a few changes. President of the Palestinian authority almost signed it then changed his mind because he said he would be assassinator. Later on he said that the real reason was that he would loose power prestige and his high salary from the UN. The Palestinians have their own elected, but very corrupt government, Abbas is their President. They have their own local Police departments and civilian municipal governance. The Israeli Government has to run all of their municipal survives including electricity, water , collection of Taxes from some Palestinians working in Israel and some other Palestinian’s entities. Much of their operating funds come from the UN, Arab countries, US and even from Israel. They have an unemployment rate of 34%, There are some 800 private Israeli factories in 18 Industrial Parks employing some 20,000 Palestinians getting 3x as much as other local employers. Israeli Companies would like to build another 20 industrial parks but the Palestinian will not allow it. Because of Israel’s booming economy they had to bring in workers from other countries, in agriculture, construction and industrial. Its now wonder more Arab and Muslim countries want to establish relations with Israel for trade and economic reasons, such as IT and the Health Sciences.
You don’t have to like the facts. The facts are the facts whether you like them or not.
The Israeli regime bans political parties (not just Arab political parties, either — look up Kach some time).
The Israeli regime imprisons whistleblowers.
The Israeli regime censors the press.
As for the rest of your wall of text, it has nothing whatsoever to do with any of the irrefutable facts of reality I mentioned.
“Israel wants good relations with Iran” Translation: “Isreal wants their genocode on the Palestinians to continue with no criticism or intefearence as they steal all their land)