WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made his core message for his meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House this week very clear: Iran, Iran and more Iran.
Bennett announced on Sunday that he has a plan to respond to Iran, and in the subsequent days, the prime minister and his close advisers echoed the message in briefings: Whether or not the US and Iran return to the nuclear deal, there needs to be an organized plan of action, and it needs to not only address the nuclear program but to strike at Iran’s regional proxies.
While the Jewish state wants to coordinate its actions against the Islamic Republic with the US, it is Israel’s responsibility to defend itself. Jerusalem is ready to take action and is not just going to wait for America, the briefers said.
On Wednesday, a day before Bennett’s meeting with Biden and hours before his planned meetings with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the prime minister was joined by a chorus of voices from Tel Aviv warning against the rogue nation.
The full-court press on the Iran issue began with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who told ambassadors stationed in Israel that the drone that struck the Mercer Street ship last month, killing a British national and a Romanian national, was launched from Iranian territory.
The Iranian threat is to the world, not just Israel, Gantz warned – and it’s on land via proxies in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza; in the air, using drones and missiles; at sea, disrupting international trade; and in cyberspace.
“The State of Israel has the means to act and will not hesitate to do so,” the defense minister said. “I do not rule out the possibility that Israel will have to take action in the future in order to prevent a nuclear Iran.”
Next came IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, announcing an acceleration in Israel’s operational plans against Iran, in response to the Islamic Republic’s increased uranium production in recent months.
Gantz and Kohavi have had high-level meetings in the US in the past couple of years and especially in recent months, and their views on the Iranian issue are known in Washington.
But the timing of their statements on Wednesday is important.
First of all, Bennett’s trip is at a time when the powers-that-be in Washington are very busy dealing with the fallout from leaving Afghanistan. His first major meeting, with Blinken, was delayed because of a press conference on Afghanistan at the State Department.
Repeated statements about Iran call attention to the issue at a time when that attention is badly needed.
The coordinated remarks are also meant to show that there is wall-to-wall support for Bennett’s approach.
Gantz and Kohavi are saying that Iran is the most pressing issue, and that Israel is moving forward with plans to counter that threat – with or without the US.
Bennett is in Washington to make the case that it would be better if the US works with Israel against Iran – not only for Israel’s safety, but for the world.