Israeli prime minister’s main concern is his political survival but a multi-front war is still a strong possibility
In the aftermath of Iran’s unprecedented salvo of missiles and drones fired directly at Israel at the weekend, Benny Gantz, a centrist member of the Israeli war cabinet, said that the country would respond “in the place, time and manner it chooses”.
On Friday morning, that turned out to be explosions in the central Iranian city of Isfahan. Although no Israeli official has claimed responsibility for what seem to have been drone strikes on a military installation , Tehran, which retaliated after an airstrike on its consulate in Damascus, has downplayed the incident. The limited response may have for now staved off the threat of regional war.
Unclaimed drone attacks on a military site in Isfahan are unlikely to satisfy supporters or critics of Israel’s longtime leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, or restore the level of deterrence Israel enjoyed in the region before the Hamas attack of 7 October.
“Netanyahu, who has been threatening to attack Iran for 20 years, has realised a dream, or at least part thereof. The question is what about us, the people,” defence analyst and columnist for leftwing Israeli daily Haaretz, Amos Harel, wrote on Friday.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu ally and far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, reacted with just one word, “Feeble!”, in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The Israeli prime minister may have achieved several short-term wins here. The muted Iranian reaction has soothed an anxious Israeli public before the week-long Passover holiday. Israel has also struck while it still has international diplomatic support for such an action, before the sense of urgency wanes and the world’s focus returns to the war in Gaza and its deepening famine.
