(Spotify) Amb. Ron Dermer and Dr. Michael Makovsky - A U.S. intelligence official told the New York Times that Israel was behind the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Col. Hassan Sayad Khodayari in Tehran, who was responsible for executing cross-border attacks on Israelis and Jews. Israel has denied involvement in the killing. But why did the leak occur? This wouldn't be the first leak that came from U.S. intelligence officials. They are trying to distance themselves from Israel, to put the blame on Israel and keep the U.S. out of it. For the U.S. to think that they are going to stabilize the situation by distancing themselves from Israel not only endangers Israeli citizens and officials but it also actually makes the chance of an attack much higher. This is also a message to Israel that the U.S. disagrees with the action that was taken. Essentially, what that means is they are trying to curtail Israel's freedom of operation. This was one of the concerns of the past, that should a nuclear deal be signed, the U.S. would immediately try to restrict Israel's freedom of operation. If they did a deal with Iran, and everybody starts applauding, then Israel will find itself as the skunk at the post-Iran-deal garden party. Israel will continue to do these operations which we have to do against Iran in Syria or other places, but the U.S. may try to handcuff Israel through leaks like this or in other ways to prevent us from acting. This happened in the past. After the deal in 2015, rather than stand with Israel and fight Iran in different areas around the region as was promised at the time - to push back against Iranian aggression - that didn't happen. There was almost no pushback. You remember the humiliation of the captured U.S. sailors. Everything was done to avoid confrontation. Ron Dermer is a former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Makovsky is president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).
2022-06-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive