CNN
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President Donald Trump’s voluntary two-week delay, a decision to attack Iran, sparked confusion and speculation in Israel.
Some of Israel’s most senior officials were openly pushing our involvement, claiming that American military involvement could shorten the conflict and achieve the goal of Israeli being able to eliminate what has long been perceived as an existential threat to nuclear Iran armed with ballistic missiles.
“The United States and the US President are obliged to ensure that the region is on a positive path, and the world believes it is (a) free from Iran, which has nuclear weapons,” the former Israeli defense minister told CNN earlier this week. Gallant was involved in planning an Iranian operation before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired him in November.
But after Trump’s new timeline, Israeli political leaders have been paying attention to their statements and don’t want to be seen as pushing the president into the exact type of conflict he’s been trying to avoid for a long time. Netanyahu and others are now more cautious in their public message, and praise the potential benefits of US involvement without asking for it.
To determine whether to participate in Israeli ongoing military campaigns, CNN spoke with half a dozen Israeli officials to better understand how the country’s leaders view this important moment in the conflict. Due to the sensitivity of US-Israel relations, most people spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The involvement of the US would dramatically change the nature of the conflict, Israel argued. Such a critical strike could require a 30,000-pound bunkerbuster bomb carried solely by American bombers.
“Israels understand that they’re going to Fordow anyway, but it could be much more troublesome and less decisions without Americans.”
After the first week of Israel’s strike in Iran, the Israeli military no longer has an element of surprise. And the country’s political leadership must decide how far it goes to the campaign.
Israel continues closely with debates within Trump’s Maga base between its more isolationist wings against our involvement in the new Middle Eastern War and the camps that view this as the best opportunity for decisive military action against Iran.
Political Echelon has been cautious about public statements because of the isolationist wing, Dayan told CNN, but Israeli perspective said Netanyahu’s confidant Ron Dahmer and others were interviewing the US right-wing media.
Publicly, Netanyahu praised Trump enthusiastically. On Wednesday, the Israeli leader said the two spoke “frequently.” In a pre-recorded video statement, Netanyahu said, “I think President Trump has won his support.”
But Trump has deviated from the traditional pro-Israel footholds in the US into the Middle East, including negotiations with Iran, a ceasefire agreement with the Housis, and a trip to regions that skipped Israel. The White House decision revealed a sharp division between the two leaders.
Still, since Israel began attacking Iran, the two governments have maintained a continuous dialogue. Dayan said the coordination between Netanyahu and Trump is “a lot better than people think,” but he admitted that Trump would unilaterally make the decision after consulting only a small circle of advisers.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragut met his counterparts from the UK, Germany and France in Switzerland on Friday. On Thursday, the White House said U.S.-Iran contacts “continued” without providing details on communications despite Trump considering a military strike.
Trump’s “Smoke and Mirror”
However, the government has not signaled a sense of hysteria about Trump’s decision to stop a strike against Iran for two weeks.
Several Israeli officials who spoke to CNN view the president’s statement as “smoke and mirror.”
“He wouldn’t give him a deadline he has to meet if he hadn’t made a decision yet,” the official said.
However, others who spoke to CNN were even more concerned.
“If you follow the statements over the past few weeks, it was a lot of zigzags,” another Israeli official said.
What seemed certainty to Israeli officials just 48 hours ago – Trump’s ordering US military involvement now seems far less guaranteed. Trump has given him two more weeks to make what will be the presidency’s most fateful foreign policy decision after saying that he “has “full and complete control of the sky over Iran,” which praises Israel’s military success.
Israel has launched an operation against Iran without a US commitment to join the campaign, officials said, but the headlines for Israel’s military achievements were that it could seduce Trump and approve US military involvement.
But as the campaign enters week two, Israel’s “slows pace of success,” officials said. And as Israel continues its operations in Iran – about 1,000 miles away – the possibility of errors is increasing, not only affecting Israel’s actions, but also reducing the likelihood of US involvement.
“Every day this continues, there’s a high chance that something goes wrong,” the official said.
“They don’t know what this means,” Aron Pinas, former Israeli consul general in New York City, told CNN. “Israel will be more concerned about each day it passes.”
Pincus said the American leaders emphasized that Trump’s deadline for making a decision is “undecipherable.” He added that there is also a growing possibility that “Netanyahu may have overestimated the card here.”
