1. Israel's sugar daddy will give (as in gift) them all the munitions they need. They'll never come close to running out.
2. This is the country that's been crying wolf over Iran being months away from having the bomb for something like twenty years now, while having up to several hundred nukes of their own. Why should we believe them when they're crying wolf about running out of munitions?
> There was a chance for normalization in the 2000s - especially under Shimon Peres - but the rise of Hamas ended that.
You mean in the 90s, but the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin ended that, no? The Likud called for his death.
And the Hamas rise has the same roots of the IRGC. Marxists against religious fundamentalists during elections, of course the US support and fund the religious fundamentalists (through Irak for one, through Israel for the other), and 10 years later everybody's surprised when fundamentalists are crazy and attack for no reason.
> You mean in the 90s, but the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin ended that, no
Nope. The Oslo Accords and the process leading up to the Camp David Accords was actually pretty popular domestically speaking with Rabin's assassin being domestically reviled, Israel unilaterally removed settlements from the Gaza Strip, and Gazans were allowed work and free passage in Israel in the 2000s, but the Fatah-Hamas rivalry became a chain reaction to spiraled into brinkmanship and constant suicide bombings, pipe rockets, and mortar attacks in Israel in the 2000s.
This soured a whole generation against the two-state process and hardened opinions in Israel.
A similar normalization was about to happen via the Abraham Accords and IMEC, but October 7th happened barely 3 weeks after the Gulf States announced they would normalize relations and unify supply chains with Israel, the EU, and India [3]. This was going to be legacymaking for Mohammed bin Salman [4] before it was stymied by 10/7, and a reason why Saudi Arabia also privately lobbied Trump to strike Iran [5].
> of course the US support and fund the religious fundamentalists
Nope. The US supported nominally leftist Fatah in Gaza, as Mohammad Dahlan was our guy [0].
After losing the Gaza Civil War he became one of the most powerful men in UAE by becoming MbZ's righthand man. He was the interlocutor who helped the UAE expand it's real estate (the Belgrade Waterfront project) and weapons portfolio in Serbia [1], acted as emissary to normalize UAE-Israel relations as well as what became the Abraham Accords [1], and is being positioned as a potential leader of Gaza and the West Bank [2] after the war ends.
There were plenty of other alternatives, starting with sanctions against Israel and followed with military action. The boomer generation's support for Israel created a very odd relationship that was entirely one way. Younger generations will certainly reverse this.
That does not count the money we've spent fighting their wars. We could have cut that off and sanctioned them at any time if they worked against our interests. Israel's strategy has been to compromise US leadership to stop this from happening, and until recently it was successful at that.
Interesting that Iran has started using cluster munition missiles to strike Israel. Apparently Iran, Israel and US are some of the few countries that haven't signed the international convention banning cluster munitions. Israel has also used cluster munitions against the Hezbollahs.
I hope they have their Cuito Cuanavale[1] moment and follow the steps of South Africa in replacing their own version of the apartheid regime with democracy.
Then it was a very strange choice to go to war with a neighbor that's known to have massive stockpiles of missiles.
Maybe it's just me, but if I were in such a suboptimal defensive materiel position, I would try diplomacy first. In fact, I would make it my mission to be the world recognized leader in diplomacy.
That's the plan in both Lebanon and Iran. Send out an initial impulse and steady stream of drones and ballistic missiles to expend expensive interceptors that take a long time to make. Make it seem like the traditional launch capability and stockpiles are low. After that time, Iran and/or Lebanon maintain an option to ready and launch underground-stockpiled Shaheeds and similar from improvised launchers on the back of pickup trucks and trailers by the hundreds/thousands to obliterate US bases and major Israeli cities like Haifa and Tel Aviv. That's the most likely scenario should Iran/Lebanon decide escalation would be essential for existential defense.
I have lost patience with Israel. The state behaves like a hopelessly spoiled child because they know their stupid parent will bail them out of any bad situation of their own making. I'm quite disgusted with both of them.
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https://taxpayersforpeace.org/
1. Israel's sugar daddy will give (as in gift) them all the munitions they need. They'll never come close to running out.
2. This is the country that's been crying wolf over Iran being months away from having the bomb for something like twenty years now, while having up to several hundred nukes of their own. Why should we believe them when they're crying wolf about running out of munitions?
> There was a chance for normalization in the 2000s - especially under Shimon Peres - but the rise of Hamas ended that.
You mean in the 90s, but the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin ended that, no? The Likud called for his death.
And the Hamas rise has the same roots of the IRGC. Marxists against religious fundamentalists during elections, of course the US support and fund the religious fundamentalists (through Irak for one, through Israel for the other), and 10 years later everybody's surprised when fundamentalists are crazy and attack for no reason.
> You mean in the 90s, but the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin ended that, no
Nope. The Oslo Accords and the process leading up to the Camp David Accords was actually pretty popular domestically speaking with Rabin's assassin being domestically reviled, Israel unilaterally removed settlements from the Gaza Strip, and Gazans were allowed work and free passage in Israel in the 2000s, but the Fatah-Hamas rivalry became a chain reaction to spiraled into brinkmanship and constant suicide bombings, pipe rockets, and mortar attacks in Israel in the 2000s.
This soured a whole generation against the two-state process and hardened opinions in Israel.
A similar normalization was about to happen via the Abraham Accords and IMEC, but October 7th happened barely 3 weeks after the Gulf States announced they would normalize relations and unify supply chains with Israel, the EU, and India [3]. This was going to be legacymaking for Mohammed bin Salman [4] before it was stymied by 10/7, and a reason why Saudi Arabia also privately lobbied Trump to strike Iran [5].
> of course the US support and fund the religious fundamentalists
Nope. The US supported nominally leftist Fatah in Gaza, as Mohammad Dahlan was our guy [0].
After losing the Gaza Civil War he became one of the most powerful men in UAE by becoming MbZ's righthand man. He was the interlocutor who helped the UAE expand it's real estate (the Belgrade Waterfront project) and weapons portfolio in Serbia [1], acted as emissary to normalize UAE-Israel relations as well as what became the Abraham Accords [1], and is being positioned as a potential leader of Gaza and the West Bank [2] after the war ends.
[0] - https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/04/gaza200804
[1] - https://www.intelligenceonline.com/insiders/uae_middle-east_...
[2] - https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/10/30/...
[3] - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/09/g20-eu-and-us-...
[4] - https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-crown-prince...
[5] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/28/trump-ira...
That does not count the money we've spent fighting their wars. We could have cut that off and sanctioned them at any time if they worked against our interests. Israel's strategy has been to compromise US leadership to stop this from happening, and until recently it was successful at that.
https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-889435
Iran is actually attacking their former close friends at the gulf uninvolved civilian population centers more often than it attacks Israel
EDIT: fixed to 92%
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cuito_Cuanavale
Maybe it's just me, but if I were in such a suboptimal defensive materiel position, I would try diplomacy first. In fact, I would make it my mission to be the world recognized leader in diplomacy.