The commentary on the Iran/US/Israel triangle is coming fast and furious. It’s too much for me to try to put together into a coherent post, so I thought I’d just give a rundown and links. We can sort it out in the comments:
- Tony Karon shares a report from Ha’aretz about how Israel might try to provoke an Iranian attack so it can retaliate in “self defense.”
- Helena Cobban writes Israel wants to lure the US into war with Iran so that the US can inflict a level of damage Israel would be unable to carry out.
- Roger Cohen thinks Netanyahu won round one with Obama last week regarding Iran and thinks that “Obama is in Netanyahu’s Web”
- Fareed Zakaria believes “everything you know about Iran is wrong” and says there should be a long way to go before “launching the next Mideast war”
- Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett claim Obama’s Iran policy “has, in all likelihood, already failed”
- Rabbi Brant Rosen has a “sinking feeling about all this”
And I’m sure there are plenty I’m missing. The one thing that everyone who comments on it agrees with is that Netanyahu’s adviser’s Amalek comment was ridiculous and dangerous. For the best post on that, see IPS’ Daniel Luban.
Update: In his latest post, Luban gets biblical with Jeffrey Goldberg, who has been firing back at his critics. Luban’s ending is great:
Finally, Goldberg prefaces his attack on Zakaria with the disclaimer that “I write this — I feel a need these days to make this point over and over again — as someone opposed to a military strike on Iran, either by the U.S. or Israel, because I can’t see how such a strike would be in the American national security interest.” His wounded insistence that he has no idea how anyone could view him as a hawk is a bit rich, considering that in recent months his primary focus has been drumming up hysteria about the Iranian nuclear program and reassuring American Jews about the Netanyahu government’s alleged seriousness and pragmatism. However, I suppose this is the true mark of a Serious Liberal. Just like those Jews who profess their devotion to the two-state solution and to ending the occupation, but in practice spend most of their time attacking anyone who makes a serious effort to further these goals, Goldberg is a supposed supporter of engagement with Iran who appears determined to undercut anyone who proposes any serious measures to make engagement work.
