Biden tells Israel not to retaliate for Iranian attack

The Bidenites seem to think Israel should be satisfied with having escaped harm.

By Hugh Fitzgerald, Frontpage Magazine

The remains of intercepted Iranian drones and missiles shot down over Israel and Jordan are still smoldering, and already the Bidenites are trying to prevent Israel from launching its own strike in retaliation for what Washington admits was a hugely “disproportionate” response by Iran to the killing of a high-ranking Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander, Mohamed Reza Zahedi, in Damascus.

Biden has said his government will not take part in any attack by Israel on Iran.

Apparently that “ironclad” support for Israel that the Bidenites continue to claim extends only to defensive measures.

It does not include support for actions that might now be taken by the IDF to make an aggressive Iran “pay the cost” of its own aggression.

Furthermore, the Bidenites have told Israel not to retaliate against Iran, but to “take the win.”

If Israel were to follow the Bidenites’ advice, Iran would get away scot-free after its massive and “disproportionate” attack on Israel, that included the launching of 170 drones, 130 ballistic missiles, and 30 cruise missiles.

More on the Bidenites’ attempt to persuade Israel not to retaliate can be found here: “Report: US told Israel ‘take the win’ rather than retaliate against Iran,” Israel National News, April 14, 2024:

A senior official in the Biden administration told the NBC network that US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their telephone conversation that while the American commitment to defend Israel is an ironclad commitment, the United States will not participate in offensive actions against Iran.

According to the official, Israel should “take the win” of its successful interception of 99% of the drones and missiles launched by Iran rather than retaliate.

The fact that Israel, with some help from the US, UK, France, and Jordan, managed to intercept 99% of Iran’s drones and missiles launched at it, does not mean that Iran should be allowed to get away with such a massive attack without suffering retaliation.

Even though its attack proved to be a miserable failure, Iran still needs to suffer the only kind of consequences that will make it impossible for Tehran to try again.

The Bidenites seem to think Israel should be satisfied with having escaped harm — their advice is “take the win” — and with a diplomatic victory, such as denunciation of Iran at the UN’s General Assembly.

In the view of the Bidenites, that is more than enough.

Separately, National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby was interviewed on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ program. When asked if the Iranian attack could or has led to a wider regional war, he responded, “I don’t think there’s any reason that it needs to.”

“The President doesn’t believe that it needs to move in that direction whatsoever,” he continued.

“What Israel demonstrated last night was an incredible ability to defend itself. Just their own military superiority was quite remarkable yesterday.”

He added, “Israel demonstrated again that they’re not standing alone, that they have friends.”

“The President’s been clear: We don’t want to see this escalate, we’re not looking for a wider war with Iran,” he said.

Nor is Israel looking for a “wider war.”

While Iran’s retaliation for the killing of its IRGC commander in Damascus was certainly hugely “disproportionate” — with its launching at Israel of 170 drones, 130 ballistic missiles, and 30 cruise missiles, Israel will likely choose not to exceed by very much that degree of lethality.

But unlike Iran’s drones and missiles, Israel’s are likely not to be intercepted, but to hit their intended targets.

At that point, Jerusalem will declare the “tit-for-tat” exchange over, and the Iranians, who will not have had anything like Israel’s success in intercepting missiles and drones, are likely to acquiesce.

There is only so much public failure that the Iranian regime can endure, without becoming even more of a malign laughingstock than it already is.

Biden spoke to Netanyahu late on Saturday night, after Iran launched an attack on Israel involving hundreds of drones and missiles.

In a statement following the call, Biden wrote, “Earlier today, Iran—and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria and Iraq—launched an unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel.

I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms.”

It was not just “military facilities” in Israel that were under attack.

It’s true that the Nevatim Air Base and the Dimona nuclear reactor were two of the sites the Iranians were aiming for.

But they also had missiles headed to Jerusalem, which the IDF shot down.

Just imagine the reaction of the world’s Muslims if an Iranian missile had hit Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock.

Another target was apparently the Golan Heights, the site of both a military outpost and several civilian towns.

It is one thing for Biden to refuse to have the American military take part in an Israeli attack on Iran.

That would open American forces in the Middle East to retaliation not just by Iran, but also by its proxies.

But it is quite another thing for Biden to say that he “opposes”any attack at this point by Israel on Iran.

That is asking too much of Israel, to refrain from retaliating after such an enormous, and potentially devastating attack by Iran.

Israelis must feel that they have to teach Iran a lesson so that it will never try such an attack again.

The Israeli government may even decide that with the sympathy now being shown the Jewish state for the attack launched against it, a sympathy that is combined with admiration for Israel’s remarkable defenses, it should take this occasion to attack the Islamic Republic’s storehouses of ballistic and cruise missiles, and its drones.

What’s more, now may be the moment to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities as it is now just a few months away from having enough enriched uranium for three bombs.

Once that “demilitarizing” of Iran is a fait accompli, and it becomes abundantly clear that all the Sunni Arab states are pleased with what Israel has managed to achieve, the Bidenites should come to appreciate how Israel has managed, in Iran as in Gaza, to enhance both its own, and the world’s, security and stability.

Biden AdministrationIDFIranretaliatory attack