ISRAEL has been called America鈥檚 unsinkable ship in the Middle East. Terrifyingly accurate Iranian missiles have been piercing its acclaimed Iron Dome to target the ship鈥檚 hull as it were. The war that began as a threat to Iran is looking like a threat to Israel. The Western world looks jolted by Iran鈥檚 furious response to Israel鈥檚 initial blitzkrieg on Thursday night despite significant Iranian losses in military personnel. Much is at stake, not least American prestige.
Riding the mayhem is Donald Trump鈥檚 boast that America produces the world鈥檚 best military equipment, which he gave to Israel. Reports, however, say two or three US-made F-35 stealth jets used by Israel had perished. The Iran-sourced reports have not been independently verified.
But, even if a single plane of that order is destroyed, it would be an unspeakable humiliation for Western military engineers, and for Trump personally. It鈥檚 bad enough that a chronically sanctioned and cash-strapped country has built the resources to defend itself against formidable challengers.
Bringing down a prestigious warplane could have consequences for the global arms market. American analysts seemed happy to blame French-made Rafale jets for Indian losses in the recent flare-up with Pakistan. The boot could be on the other foot.
Is Israel a cold war relic, or does it continue to have a purpose for its western patrons? It was needed with Iran as a foil to Soviet influence among Arab states which Israel defeated in two decisive wars.
For that and more, the West allowed it to become a nuclear weapons state, by stealth. It makes the grouse with Iran look even more unconvincing 鈥� that it can make nuclear weapons, never mind the religious edict against WMDs. But then that is how they destroyed Iraq, by lying that Saddam Hussein was assembling the bomb.
How the west turned a blind eye when Mordechai Vanunu was kidnapped by his former Israeli employers after the nuclear scientist blew the whistle on his country鈥檚 secret nuclear weapons plant at Dimona. Vanunu, a closet anti-nuclear activist, let the cat out to a British newspaper in 1986, for which he was lured by Mossad to Italy where they drugged and transported him to Israel.
Some developing countries hero-worship Israel as a demi-god, an invincible military and intelligence genius. They cannot be blamed for it. One such supplicant got so carried away that it allegedly resorted to Israeli-style assassinations of domestic adversaries in foreign lands, overlooking a crucial rider.
Israel was never ever permitted the impunity of kidnapping or killing its quarries inside any of the Five Eyes countries, the post-war Anglo-Saxon intelligence-sharing club. That is why Vanunu was lured to Rome.
Israel鈥檚 transgressions were indulged even before its cynical creation in 1948. Truth be told, Zionist extremists showed paces as Frankenstein鈥檚 monster when they blew up the King David hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, killing dozens of British troops.
Later, Israel got away with a devastating attack on its mentor when it assaulted the USS Liberty, an American spy ship keeping an eye on the 1967 Israel-Arab war from the Mediterranean Sea. The attack mockingly used US-made jet fighters and motor torpedo boats to kill 34 US crew members. Nearly 200 were wounded.
Reports say that Israel was stealing American nuclear secrets and covertly making bombs since the 1950s. And western governments, led by Britain and the US, preferred to turn a blind eye. For far less, America executed Julian and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 on suspicion that they passed American nuclear secrets to the USSR. Israel got away scot-free in all cases.
Thus, it was a bit rich for Netanyahu to be pleading for direct American involvement in his unexpectedly uphill battle against Iran. In a televised address, sounding desperate, Netanyahu made a strange case to lure Trump more directly into the war. Iran, he said, had staged a 1983 truck bombing in Beirut that killed nearly 300 American and French soldiers. He even tried to persuade Trump to believe that Iran had attempted to assassinate him during the 2024 election campaign.
American defence analysts, including former intelligence and army officers have berated Netanyahu for seeking to involve the US in what they say was his personal fight. They have cautioned Trump with the reminder that Washington had already lost $12 trillion in the Middle East since 2003, against a current US debt of $34tr.
鈥楽eventy-seven million Americans voted for president Trump because he promised to end the overseas conflicts and halt the march to WW3,鈥� tweeted Colonel Douglas McGregor, a former army officer who worked with US forces in the Middle East.
He estimated that just one Israeli strike on Kharg Island 鈥� where 90 per cent of Iran鈥檚 oil exports flow 鈥� or Bandar Abbas terminals, could prompt Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz. That would be 20pc of global oil supply. What it could do to America was prohibitive 鈥� disrupted supply chains and accompanying inflation.
鈥楪as hits $7/gallon overnight. Every working family crushed. Truckers can鈥檛 deliver food. Economy crashes. For what? So Israel that started this insane war can drag Americans into a wider regional conflict with the potential for nuclear war?鈥� McGregor was adamant.
The US has 40,000 troops in the UAE, Qatar, and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf. 鈥楾hey are sitting ducks,鈥� he warned. 鈥業ranian Shahed-136 Drones cost $20,000 each. American Patriot Missiles cost $4 million per interceptor. Do the math.
鈥榃e will run through our inventory of missiles and go broke while Americans come home in boxes.鈥� The fear was echoed by a number of former military and intelligence personnel. What would Trump then do? Would he join Netanyahu鈥檚 last throw of the dice, or might he accept a diplomatic resolution that Vladimir Putin suggested in their phone call?
McGregor suggests an emergency UN Security Council meeting where America clearly opposes the destruction of Iran, Israel or any state in the region. Is there any other way?
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Dawn.com, June 17. Jawed Naqvi is Dawn鈥檚 correspondent in Delhi.