There is much excitement in the places you might expect. The ever war-horny New York Times has described Israel’s “stunning” series of strikes as a “remarkable coup of intelligence and military force,” recalling the flustered and giddy tone it and similarly-minded outlets adopted when, in 2024, Israel “built a modern-day Trojan Horse” by secretly rigging thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies with explosives and dispersing them throughout Lebanon, before setting them off in a string of attacks that killed 42 people and injured thousands more, including, as ever, a hell of a lot of children. These, it’s worth remembering, were injuries like torn-off fingers and hands, blinded eyes, and charred, burnt skin, but, given the novel means with which Israel inflicted those ghastly traumas, large segments of the commentariat could hardly conceal their fizzy enthusiasm for it all. As we’re seeing again with this latest round of stunningly intelligent violence, there is deep admiration whenever Israel contrives fresh ways to mass-kill and maim.
Israel’s attack, lauded by some as if it was a strictly shrewd feat of precision, has wiped out buildings in residential areas, and it has killed and injured civilians. It has also deliberately hit nuclear facilities, which clearly risks catastrophe in the form of radioactive leaks, explosions, and the long-term contamination of surrounding areas. There is no evidence yet to suggest that this has happened, but to risk such a thing is deeply irresponsible. There is a word we would likely reach for had these exact actions been taken by another force besides Israel, say Hezbollah or Iran itself. Here’s a clue: it begins with a “t” and ends with an “-ism.”
This is not the first time Israel has bombed Iran in recent times, but it does mark the first time that nuclear facilities have been hit. This is a clear escalation, and it drastically raises the prospect of a wider war breaking out. The consequences of such a war will be devastating to the people of the region, and there is every chance the United States will be minded to directly get involved, too. A defense official told the Washington Post that when Iran responds, Israel will ask the United States to help counter.
Earlier this week, Trump stated publicly that he opposed Israeli military action against Iran at this time, with the U.S. and Iran due to meet for another round of nuclear talks this coming Sunday. It is difficult not to read Israel’s attack as an effort to derail those negotiations, and Iranian state media says the talks have been suspended indefinitely. According to the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Operation Rising Lion was launched without the authorization of the Trump administration, but it has also been reported that Trump was nonetheless aware that the attack was going to take place. One would imagine that, had he wanted to, he could have put a stop to it. But he didn’t, and now he is threatening Iran with “even more brutal” attacks should they fail to “make a deal.” Like Biden before him, Trump is showing signs that he will allow Israel to make war without inhibition—and perhaps he’ll send the U.S. to get involved directly.
Israel has clearly spun dangerously out of control. It is, all at once, committing genocide in Gaza, ramping up its respective occupations of the West Bank and southwest Syria, continuing to pummel Lebanon with airstrikes, and, once again, is seemingly trying to provoke a direct war with Iran. It will need support from the United States to succeed in all of this, and, despite Trump’s oft-signaled desire to avoid the clusterfuck of another endless war in the Middle East, it is difficult to imagine the U.S. abandoning its ally now. The region stands at the precipice.
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