Israelis ‘have no trust’ in government forecast of conflict with Iran
Israeli political commentator Ori Goldberg says even as most Israelis support attacks against Iran, there is a general sense in Israel that “nobody is looking out for” the population.
Israelis are “extremely ambivalent” about what has been happening, Goldberg told Al Jazeera by phone from Israel shortly after the latest Iranian missiles were fired at the country.
“There is mass support, a very broad consensus, that … Israel should go after Iran because Iran wants to destroy Israel – that’s the official narrative,” he explained.
But on the other hand, “Israelis know that [Israeli attacks on Iran are] not capable of destroying the Iranian nuclear programme”, Goldberg said.
“They realise that this isn’t going to instigate regime change. There are already jokes being told about the prime minister and various other Israeli politicians using the strike for their own good.”
Ultimately, he said, “Israelis are preparing to care for themselves as this war continues. They have no trust in the official forecast and evaluation that the government has delivered to Israeli citizens.”
Iran seeking to restore deterrence
Abas Aslani, a senior research fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, says Iran is not only trying to respond to Israel’s military bombardment of the country, but also to establish deterrence.
“Iran believes that it … needs to establish a kind of deterrence against Israel, in order to make it painful [for Israel] … so they can stop further attacks from their side,” Aslani told Al Jazeera from Tehran.
He said the Iranian attacks will likely happen in different stages and could continue for some time. The country is also trying to strengthen its air defence system to be able to fend off Israeli attacks, Aslani added.
Houthi official says Israel trying to create ‘fake victory’
Hazem al-Assad, a member of the Yemeni group’s political bureau, says that as Israel is suffering blows from Iran, it is “promoting lies to create a fake victory to cover its defeats”.
The comment comes amid reports that the Israeli military carried out a major assassination in Yemen.
