On video: Explosions in the sky of Aspan, Iran, April 19, 2024/Certification in social networks according to Article 27 A of the Copyright Law
Who said that Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are not compatible? Despite the rivalry, hatred and hostility between the two, it turns out that on the really important issues, such as causing as much damage in as little time as possible to the State of Israel, which pays their salary, the two are completely coordinated. Identical twins.
After the assassination of the Iranian general Hassan Mahdavi in Damascus, the only one who dared to speak out and take implicit responsibility for the incident was the Minister of Finance in the Israeli government, Bezalel Smotrich, who tweeted a tweet with only one emoji: a green "V" sign.
After the mysterious night attack in the Isfahan area, which is attributed to Israel, the (almost) only person who dared to speak out and imply some kind of partial responsibility for the event, was the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, who tweeted a tweet of only one word: "Dardal'a".
In the hands of these two, Benjamin Netanyahu entrusted the most important assets the country has to offer: the treasury and national security. For this alone, he should be exiled to the island of the lepers, if such an island existed. The fact that two senior ministers, from within the government, commit criminal ministerial sabotage against it in the middle of a war, is an unimaginable event. The one violates the policy of ambiguity, which should allow the Iranians to move to the agenda and not react, the other laughs and belittles the retaliatory action attributed to Israel in a way that also forces the Iranians themselves to quote it on their networks in Tehran. If it wasn't our country, we would be laughing too. If there was a sane, responsible and functioning prime minister here, he would have fired both of them a long time ago. That's what Sharon would do. That's what Rabin would do. That's what Olmert would do. That's what everyone would do. Maybe Shamir would have done more serious things. The man has an impressive record of eliminating opponents. What's more, these are not political rivals, but rivals who cause damage to Israel's security.
This column was written before it was clearly known what exactly was attacked in the Isfahan area at 3:30 in the morning, and in what way. What is known is that Israel is shrouded in silence, meaning that it really wants to move on, and Iran is also behaving politely, hardly referring to the incident and mostly making fun of it. I mean, she also wants to move on.
The full quarter of the glass is us and they want to end it nicely. If we consider for a moment only our angle, then it is nice to prove that messianic, nationalist, extremist and irresponsible governments sometimes conduct themselves with careful pragmatism. Although anyone who is not an alien who has just landed here knows that if the Bent-Lapid government, or any government not headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, had responded with this kind of weak response to the historic missile and drone attack on its territory, it would have now absorbed the Bibist poison machine in all its hideous power. As has been written here many times, Netanyahu's greatest luck is that he is not the chairman of the opposition.
Since the Iranian attack on Saturday, Israel has at least twice faced a counter-attack landing on Iranian territory. Probably more significant than what was ultimately assumed. The first time was on the night of Saturday, during the Iranian attack, while we were waiting for the arrival of the UAVs. The intention was to take advantage of the commotion to hit a strategic Iranian target with severe damage. The advantage of such an attack is that there is little chance that it would drag the parties into war. If indeed it were carried out at the same time For the Iranian attack, it could have been a double bingo, but it didn't help mainly for logistical and operational reasons.
The second time was the second night after the Iranian attack. It seemed that there was no escape from an Israeli attack. How much can you humiliate Jacob Bardogo, who announced every night that this is happening right now? So that didn't help either. Israel then faced a barrage of pleas, promises, proposals, ideas and recommendations from all its allies, in the Middle East and beyond, to leverage the Iranian attack to achieve more important strategic goals than the current balance of blows between the countries.
In the end, what came to fruition, according to foreign publications, is a hybrid that allows Israel to mark a "V" (green, like Smotrich) on the "response" rubric, but also helps it leverage the Iranian attack for more significant moves in the area of sanctions on Iran and its allies The regional air defense that showed skin and sinews in front of the whole world on Saturday night.
A hint of what is to come was already yesterday, when all sorts of senior figures from the ultra-orthodox world, led by Aryeh Deri for example, came out with statements that Israel should hold back and not attack. Mind control, etc. Well, for those who don't understand Netanyahu's method, this was the softening attack. Here, the ultra-Orthodox think we should hold back and then, in less than 24 hours, boom, we still reacted, despite everything. No doubt, this Bibi is a man.
The balance between Israel and Iran is currently a draw: Israel has proven that it is protected from an Iranian ballistic attack, Iran has revealed itself to be completely exposed to an Israeli air attack. On the other hand, Iran proved that it is no longer deterred by Israel by daring to attack Israel from its territory with a maximally powerful attack, while Israel demonstrated that it is indeed deterred by Iran, by going for the most minor version of a response. To this should be added two additional inaccurate Israeli intelligence assessments: the initial assessment that Iran would not respond to the assassination of General Mahdawi in Damascus, and the second assessment, after it was already clear that Iran would respond, regarding the strength of the Iranian response, which was much stronger.
The event last night reminded me of the event on the night between September 6, 2007, and the 7th. Even then, it was between Thursday and Friday. The Air Force planes attacked a mysterious target in Syria, destroyed it and disappeared. Israel was enveloped in complete silence. No one tweeted, no one responded, ministers were instructed not to leave the house to run into a press camera by chance. The effort was to allow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad the "space of denial." Let him deny that something happened, wipe the saliva and move on. The fear was of an immediate all-out war, through the launch of thousands of Syrian Scud missiles at strategic targets in Israel. It was Assad before the war in Syria, as I recall.
A few days later, someone broke the media silence. It was opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, in an interview on Channel One with Chaim Yavin. Netanyahu was asked by Yavin about the mysterious attack and announced, ironically, that as opposition leader he was informed and backed up the government (which shook its hair at his words). The reason Netanyahu didn't update opposition leader Lapid in the last two months?
One way or another, the really alarming news today is not in Iran, but here. The decision of the BIL rating agency S&P to lower Israel's credit rating, as Moody's did before it. Now this is an established trend. Israel is rapidly sliding down the slope. The world has lost faith in its economy and leadership.
This is a particularly worrying event not only because it will cost us More billions in interest and debt repayments. The crazy coup gave the first push to this snowball, which could bury us all: the cost of the Israeli debt at once to 76. But this was only the beginning In October and the promiscuous behavior of the government (coalition funds, etc.), it has already jumped to 176. Today, we are paying interest on the scale of third world countries. This will cost our children and grandchildren tens of billions of dollars This one goes on, towards 200. It will already mark a real fire. It can mark an accelerated economic collapse. Therefore, when talking about the "barn burners", think of Ben-Gvir, of Smotrich ("Who is wrong here"?) and that who gave them the license to destroy.