Iran attacked Israel on Saturday with more than 300 drones and several dozen ballistic missiles. The U.S. and Great Britain intercepted most of them, while Israel and the Jordanian air force destroyed the rest. It was an impressive defensive display against what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say were “outdated arms.” According to both Israeli and U.S. sources, less than one percent of the airborne attack penetrated Israeli defenses.
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Joe Biden said publicly that U.S. support for Israel was “ironclad.” I would love to know Biden’s definition of “ironclad.”
“President Biden has been clear: our support for Israel’s security is ironclad,” spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement on Saturday. “The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran.”
In a military and diplomatic sense, “ironclad” support refers to unyielding, unbending backing for an ally, come what may. But in the case of Israel, Biden stops a little short of “come what may.”
According to Axios, Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call on Saturday that the U.S. would not support a counterattack against Iran.
“You got a win. Take the win,” Biden told Netanyahu, according to an unnamed source.
For the good of Biden’s re-election campaign, the U.S. president is telling the Israeli prime minister to stand down after an enemy launched 300 missiles and drones at residential areas of Israel.
That doesn’t sound very “ironcladdy” to me.
The official said that when Biden told Netanyahu that the U.S. will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran and will not support such operations, Netanyahu said he understood.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke on Saturday with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant and asked that Israel notify the U.S. ahead of any response against Iran, a senior Israeli official said.
What they’re saying: Biden said in a statement after the call that the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week, which helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles from Iran, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
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Telling Netanyahu that the U.S. would not participate in offensive operations started by Israel against Iran is one thing. It’s wise and prudent for the U.S. to stay out of an Israeli-Iranian war. Israel is perfectly capable of defending itself without American troops.
But not having Israel’s back at the UN or elsewhere in the international arena when the inevitable anti-Israeli backlash leads to calls for sanctions and other punitive measures is, plain and simply, a betrayal.
Iran is warning Israel not to retaliate or they will respond with a larger attack.
“Our response will be much larger than tonight’s military action if Israel retaliates against Iran,” Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri told state TV,
Iran also warned the U.S. not to support an Israeli counterattack.
“If the Zionist regime (Israel) or its supporters demonstrate reckless behavior, they will receive a decisive and much stronger response,” Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi said in a statement.