How would your views on Israel and its people change?

[cronus]

If they went it alone and bombed the Iranian reactors and knocked out Iranian oil production capacity too?

[klr]

If they went it alone and bombed the Iranian reactors and knocked out Iranian oil production capacity too?

Well, they already did for the Iraqi reactor back in 1981. As for knocking out oil production capacity ... Israel isn't needed for that.

[cronus]

If they went it alone and bombed the Iranian reactors and knocked out Iranian oil production capacity too?

Well, they already did for the Iraqi reactor back in 1981. As for knocking out oil production capacity ... Israel isn't needed for that.

Seems they could exploit the current chaos in the Middle East in regards of world opinion.

[Calilasseia]

If the Israelis were going to knock out Iran's nuclear facilities, then:

[1] They would have done so long ago;

[2] They would have arranged for a low-yield weapon to be detonated on Israeli soil, in order to provide them with the perfect excuse, pointing the finger at the Iranians;

[3] Upon having arranged the requisite excuse, they'd have finished off the Iranian facilities with one of their own nukes.

That this would be destabilising to possible World War III levels, is one good reason why the Israelis haven't done it. They might be willing to resort to firepower in order to get their way on the regional stage, but not if it results in the entire planet being uninhabitable, including their own little corner.

[cronus]

The number of Iranian centrifuges are the key - not sure they'll allow them too many more. And the Iranians are likely to test their critical haul of uranium via terrorist activity elsewhere before anything happens to Israel.

[klr]

If the Israelis were going to knock out Iran's nuclear facilities, then:

[1] They would have done so long ago;

[2] They would have arranged for a low-yield weapon to be detonated on Israeli soil, in order to provide them with the perfect excuse, pointing the finger at the Iranians;

[3] Upon having arranged the requisite excuse, they'd have finished off the Iranian facilities with one of their own nukes.

That this would be destabilising to possible World War III levels, is one good reason why the Israelis haven't done it. They might be willing to resort to firepower in order to get their way on the regional stage, but not if it results in the entire planet being uninhabitable, including their own little corner.

That just leaves the Samson Option - "no-one move, or the world gets it".

[cronus]

If the Israelis were going to knock out Iran's nuclear facilities, then:

[1] They would have done so long ago;

[2] They would have arranged for a low-yield weapon to be detonated on Israeli soil, in order to provide them with the perfect excuse, pointing the finger at the Iranians;

[3] Upon having arranged the requisite excuse, they'd have finished off the Iranian facilities with one of their own nukes.

That this would be destabilising to possible World War III levels, is one good reason why the Israelis haven't done it. They might be willing to resort to firepower in order to get their way on the regional stage, but not if it results in the entire planet being uninhabitable, including their own little corner.

That just leaves the Samson Option - "no-one move, or the world gets it".

Not like the Xians spent a thousand years ingraining the persecution complex.....don't be surprised at being vaporised, worse things happen at sea.

[Warren Dew]

If they went it alone and bombed the Iranian reactors and knocked out Iranian oil production capacity too?

I'd start to consider them an asset instead of just a difficult issue.

[mistermack]

What the fuck right does Israel have to tell people what they can or can't have?
Israel has nuclear weapons, which gives Iran every right to also have them.

Knock out the Iranian Oil production, and they would hurt the USA, by pushing up the oil price.
As Israel is pretty much a state of the USA, that's not going to happen.

[Hermit]

What the fuck right does Israel have to tell people what they can or can't have?
Israel has nuclear weapons, which gives Iran every right to also have them.

It's not a matter of right. It's a matter of Realpolitik. The USA got the USSR to remove their nuclear installations even though the former equally had nuclear missiles installed even closer to the borders of The USSR than the USSR had in relation to US borders. The crisis came to within a hairtrigger's pull of starting WWIII, this time with bonus radioactive fallout on a global scale.

My attitude toward Israel would not change. The nation was basically built on stolen land, but given the choice between the theocratic and nepotistic neighbourhood and the comparatively democratic and secular Israeli government, I know which one I prefer.

[mistermack]

Well, the Cuba deal was that the USSR removed theirs publicly, and the USA removed their secretly, a little later. And that the USA guaranteed never to attack Cuba.

The Russians actually won that one.

As far as Israel goes, it's not a question of who I like least or most. It's the shitting on the little guys by the major powers that I despise. The personality of the little guy doesn't come into it for me.
But actually, before the west got stuck into the middle east, they were as tolerant as any on the planet.

They certainly tolerated the jews better than western countries did, until they were faced with a gigantic influx, through no fault of their own.

[pErvinalia]

If they went it alone and bombed the Iranian reactors and knocked out Iranian oil production capacity too?

It wouldn't change it that much. I think they are a terrorist state.

[Warren Dew]

Well, the Cuba deal was that the USSR removed theirs publicly, and the USA removed their secretly, a little later.

Or, rather, that the U.S. government got to spin it that way in the U.S. In the Soviet Union, removal of U.S. IRBMs from Turkey got the top billing.

[Jason]

Israel won't move on Iran without U.S. support and the U.S. won't support them because the whole region would become one huge clusterfuck in short order - it would polarize the Moslem nations against the great Satan. Sort of like why no one does anything serious about North Korea. Two possible candidates for catalysts of WWIII.

I'd probably hate them for starting the next global conflict and getting billions of people killed in their quest for an unopposed Jewish state.

[Warren Dew]

I'm pretty sure the Saudis are at least as worried about Iranian nuclear weapons as the Israelis are.