Should Israel Retaliate?

[baggieal]

For me yes! Iran are terrorists and are supplying Russia big time with drones and missiles. You have to confront a bully! Apart from the mountains Iran have very little air defences!

[Q165]

By no means are many/me appalled by what is happening in Gaza. But self defence is a different thing and the vast majority realise and support action. As long as Iran and others want nothing but the total obliteration of Israel I seriously doubt they will sit back and wait.

[WBA123]

For me yes! Iran are terrorists and are supplying Russia big time with drones and missiles. You have to confront a bully! Apart from the mountains Iran have very little air defences!

Not for me. It will just escalate the situation. And in fairness, very little damage was done by Iran. It was really done just to save face after Israel bombed their embassy in Syria (How many wars get started because of ego!)

Iran are a stronger country than you point out, in terms of active personnel, they have around 700k in their army. For some perspective we have about 100k. Plus they can count on Hezbollah, Hamas and Yemeni's, so that probably gives them access to 1m+. God knows where they are at with their nuclear programme, but they probably have some very serious weaponry (which they didn't use in this attack against Israel).

Throw into the mix that Israel are stretching all of their allies patience with their bombardment of Gaza, including us and the USA. I would say it wouldn't be a wise move. But who knows with Israel, they have a bit of a crazy mindset and they're liable to do anything.

[Albionic68]

No. Not this time. They've fended the blows off easily enough and made Iran look s hite in the process. Iran meanwhile have saved face by launching an (ineffective) attack. No need to escalate further given what's already going on.

[baggiematt]

Israel is about an 8th of the size of Iran (population-wise) who also has Middle Eastern allies. The West would have to be involved as Israel are apparently our allies. So no, that really should be the end of this tit-for-tat, although I don’t think we really know what is going on out there.

On that note, I’ve never quite understood why we’re allied to Israel. How was this decided and what do we get from a partnership? They can’t be economic partners as they’re tiny.

[WBA123]

Israel is about an 8th of the size of Iran (population-wise) who also has Middle Eastern allies. The West would have to be involved as Israel are apparently our allies. So no, that really should be the end of this tit-for-tat, although I don’t think we really know what is going on out there.

On that note, I’ve never quite understood why we’re allied to Israel. How was this decided and what do we get from a partnership? They can’t be economic partners as they’re tiny.

It has a lot to do with their location and their close links to the USA.

Unfortunately they're a bit hot headed. I don't really understand their strategy in Gaza, all they are doing by bombing the hell out of them is creating hatred and resentment from the next generation of Palestinians. It doesn't make much long term sense to me.

[Omegstrat6]

It has a lot to do with their location and their close links to the USA.

Unfortunately they're a bit hot headed. I don't really understand their strategy in Gaza, all they are doing by bombing the hell out of them is creating hatred and resentment from the next generation of Palestinians. It doesn't make much long term sense to me.

My understanding is that the US has close ties with Israel mostly due to historical links begun during the Cold War era when having a Westernized democracy as an ally in the region was a key part of their geo-political policies. Racist trope or not, it is also likely true that some very powerful Jewish American businessmen have not inconsiderable influence on US policy towards Israel.

As for the UK, again, there are strong historical links with Israel. The British were a dominant force in the region following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in WW1 and set up the British Mandate for Palestine in 1920 whilst at the same time encouraging Jewish emigration to the area as part of their support of the Zionist movement. This movement was born in the 19th Century out of continued persecution, particularly in Russia and Eastern Europe, and aimed at establishing a Jewish homeland in the region. It is a more unsavoury truth that the reasons for British support (and that from other Western European nations for that matter) for Zionism was driven less by concern for their plight but more by racism as they did not want to home large populations of Jews themselves.

Conflict between the ever increasing number of Jewish settlers and the Arab population then only grew and this only got worse after WW2 when thousands of displaced Jewish refugees, unable or unwilling to return to their homes in Europe, sought refuge in Palestine. When the British Mandate ended and the State of Israel was created in 1948 the first Arab-Israeli war began. Continued Western support for Israel is also doubtless rooted in a kind of collective guilt over whether the Allies could have done more to help during the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis (not that Stalin was any friend to them).

As for your last point, totally agree with you as Netanyahu's policy in Gaza is both unlikely to kill off Hamas as well as only inciting yet more hatred of Israel by new generations.

[Dubbag]

On that note, I’ve never quite understood why we’re allied to Israel. How was this decided and what do we get from a partnership? They can’t be economic partners as they’re tiny.

They are a democracy with regular elections and an open society. Everybody else in the region doesn't have this.
Back after WW2, they were the only friendly nation with a deep sea port (Haifa) that could support aircraft carriers. All the others were under Communist umbrella. It was at a time when cold war was a very real conflict. Having a democratic state surrounded by dictators was a no brainer.
Seeing as so many Brittish service people gave their valued lives/blood to stop dictators, it kinda made sense to help the very principles your own society is valued and based on.
No?

[Omegstrat6]

And it's a "no" from me too and for the same reasons already given by 123 and 68. Much as I agree that the Iranian regime and it's links to the Axis of Resistance is a threat to not only Israel but to wider Western democracies, such a direct attack will only escalate things. Hopefully the US and others will continue to urge restraint and refuse to go so far in their support of Israel as to back such a move which may make Netanyahu think twice at going it alone.

IMHO, if the US and allies like ourselves become directly involved in any action Israel takes against Iran itself then, almost certainly, Putin will ramp up support for Iran and then China will likely follow suit. In addition, such direct involvement would also lead to Islamic terrorist groups targeting any countries supporting Israel -including the UK. As such, the consequences of what happens next are pretty grim and, as regards the UK, the continuous erosion of our military capacity over the past decades does not put us in a good place should the conflict escalate.

[Dubbag]

For me yes! Iran are terrorists and are supplying Russia big time with drones and missiles. You have to confront a bully! Apart from the mountains Iran have very little air defences!

Response needs to be considered carefully.
There is a regime in Tehran that many Sunni Arab states would like to see removed for their own safety in the region.
There is a plan that I think may involve diplomacy which will scare Russia as well as China.
Save the ammo for now....