Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s high profile visit to Israel won’t include going over any specific attack plans, officials insist, but it will center around Israel’s far-right government making clear that the US can’t even theoretically stop them from attacking Iran whenever they decide to.
The message is going to be repeated by several top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, while they reiterate their belief that they have an inherent “right” to attack Iran.
Israeli officials familiar with the gameplan say that they believe Israel can attack Iran with impunity, and that the US wouldn’t do anything to “turn its back” on Israel even if they get America dragged into a massive regional war.
The visit comes with Netanyahu already laying his hawkish groundwork today, appearing on several Israeli channels for interviews insisting that the Israeli military’s opposition to a war with Iran won’t stop it from happening, and that the cabinet alone will make that decision.
