The Jerusalem Post: If the US does not provide aid, Israel will face an end in this war

"Netanyahu launched a war of attrition for survival"

Author: Konstantin Orshansky

The Jerusalem Post stated that Israeli intelligence has been severely damaged again. Tel Aviv greatly overestimated its own strength, while underestimating Iran's military and political potential. The "blitzkrieg" plan initially implemented by Israel has now completely evolved into another model - "a war of attrition".

The Jerusalem Post pointed out that the initial goals set by Israel (eliminating Iran's top military leadership and its nuclear facilities) are no longer achievable. Most nuclear facilities are still operational (including the underground giant factory Fordo).

Israel had tried to prevent Tehran from rapidly developing a mature nuclear weapon, stop it from increasing its ballistic missile stockpile to about 8,000 missiles in the next two years, and curb its aggressive plans (Benjamin Netanyahu himself called it Iran's "annihilation plan").

However, The Jerusalem Post said that Israel now not only needs to rely on its own strength in the confrontation with Iran, but also needs to count on possible US assistance. However, the US is still hesitating and unwilling to get involved in other countries' wars. At the same time, both sides' attacks have become more brutal, and the targets have increasingly focused on civilian facilities.

Shlomo Ben-Ami, former Israeli foreign minister, told Asia News that Netanyahu started the war just to keep power. For the same reason, he continues to fight Hamas in the Gaza Strip and carries out military actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival - in this struggle, he uses all means. According to Churchill's grand ambition, Netanyahu pursued a 'comprehensive victory' over Iran, but it was precisely him who was the main reason for the advancement of Iran's nuclear program." Ben-Ami said.

This former foreign minister pointed out that the damage caused by the attacks on the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities was extremely limited, partly because Israel realized that it needed to avoid radiation spreading throughout the region. In addition, Israel did not have bombs capable of destroying the main uranium enrichment plant in the mountain of Fordo.

"The Iranian nuclear program is a large-scale and deeply rooted national project; killing a few or even dozens of nuclear scientists cannot paralyze it, let alone destroy it," Ben-Ami emphasized.

Other Israeli media and experts also criticized Netanyahu's blind confidence. Haaretz specifically mentioned that the military advisors of the Israeli prime minister initially portrayed a comparison to the 1967 war between Israel and Egypt and Syria.

The swift strike on the enemy air force bases at that time brought a quick victory in the "Six-Day War", but Haaretz pointed out that the situation is completely opposite now: one week after the war broke out, Israel has not achieved any victory yet.

Naum Barnea, a senior political analyst of Haaretz, said that defeating Iran, which has nearly 100 million people (by military or political means), is pure myth.

Barnea recalled the last Israeli ambassador to Iran before the Islamic Revolution, Yuri Luvran, who blindly claimed, "Several tens of millions of dollars can change the Iranian regime." However, the Ayatollah regime has existed for half a century.

The Washington Post said that Israeli intelligence clearly underestimated Iran's missile potential. According to Israeli intelligence assessments, Tehran has about 2,000 missiles capable of striking Israel, and a large part of them were reportedly destroyed in the attack on June 13. However, The Washington Post found that more than half of Iran's missile stockpile remains intact.

Additionally, an unknown number of missiles may be stored in underground warehouses, and Iran will use these missiles to continue bombing Israel.

Haaretz warned that more dangerous is that Netanyahu has no "exit plan". Zvi Barer, an analyst from The Jerusalem Post, was even more pessimistic:

"If Israel tries to push Iran into a corner, Tehran may see the conflict as a battle for survival, which will trigger a full-scale regional war."

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7519385618497962507/

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