As Israelis approached the beginning of the high holy days last week on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the news began to circulate. Several IDF units fighting on the border with Lebanon had taken casualties in at least two different locations. Soldiers had died in combat, and many were wounded.

The confirmation of the wounded and dead, if not the circumstances served as a stark reminder for Israelis of the blows that come in war, even as Israel’s punishing air offensive has killed hundreds of Lebanese and wounded more. The soldiers’ deaths came after two weeks in which Israel struck a series of blows against Hezbollah, including the assassination of the group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and most of the top leadership.

Underlining that sense of hazard was another story that revealed itself slowly last week: how the wave of Iranian missiles launched against Israel had not been as inconsequential as initially claimed by Israel’s leadership, and instead shown that a large-scale strike could not only overwhelm Israel’s anti-missile defences but thatTehran could accurately explode warheads on the targets it was aiming for, in this case several military bases.

All of which raises serious questions as Israel prepares for a “significant” military response to Iran for the its missile attack.

  • @wurzelgummidge
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    288 days ago

    Israel is, counting on America to join their wars. Which they probably will, the neocons want it as much as the Netanyahu. The Wolfowitz Doctrine is alive and well.

    • @[email protected]
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      8 days ago

      America won’t join until after the election. And only if Trump wins. Joining the war now would be catastrophic for the Democrats and would really damage Harris chance of winning. Netanyahu knows this, and that is why he launched the invasion of Lebanon so close to the election. He wants Trump more than Harris. It’s also the big reason why Iran doesn’t want to escalate. They really don’t want Trump to win, for their own sake.

      • @wurzelgummidge
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        98 days ago

        It won’t matter who wins the election, it’ll just be a little easier for Netanyahu if Trump wins.

        • @[email protected]
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          138 days ago

          I could be wrong, but I get the impression that Democrats are getting more and more tired of Israel and are trying to distance themselves from them. I don’t think Harris would forget how Netanyahu deliberately tried to sabotage her chances of winning. Then again, maybe that AIPAC money will help her forget. I guess we’ll see.

          • @small44
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            168 days ago

            Democrats are just hypocrites when it comes to israel

          • @[email protected]
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            108 days ago

            Idk where you’re getting that impression. She has said several times that she will always support Israel. The entire party more or less agrees with her.

            • @[email protected]
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              38 days ago

              I don’t have any actual evidence. It’s just a gut feeling. The party in general seems to be moving away from the pro Israel stance that used to be universal in American politics.

              • @[email protected]
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                68 days ago

                But aside from the couple senators who have personally denounced Israel there definitely has been no indication whatsoever that the party intends to change their policy of unconditional support.

                I’d be very happy to see that change. But as far as any actual indications of that, there hasn’t been any. For the past year up till today the American government has in its entirety remained entirely supportive of Israel and the IDF and fully willing to fund and arm the genocide in Gaza.

                • @[email protected]
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                  58 days ago

                  You may be right. This is all pure conjecture on my part. Biden is clearly too weak to stand up against them, or else he would have months ago. Harris seems to be trying to walk a fine line in not pissing off both ends of this conflict so she doesn’t lose any more votes. Of course, Netanyahu is making sure that this screws her over even more as he commits more and more war crimes, and those demanding a ceasefire get even more pissed.

        • @mkwt
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          58 days ago

          Trump ordered the assassination of the top IRGC general when he was in office the last time. Biden has done nothing similar with Iran. To Iran, that’s a big difference in US foreign policy.

        • @marcos
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          08 days ago

          The US has been pushing a few news on their propaganda machines trying to distance themselves from Israel. I don’t think they’ll go all-in into a war.

    • @[email protected]
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      -78 days ago

      Thing is, we’ve seen with Ukraine that the US/West doesn’t have the industrial capacity to wage a long term war, and the military will for a land war is lacking.