Despite the declassification of a recent NIE report confirming that concerns about an Iran’s nuclear program were unfounded, senior Israeli officials warned that the facts would not stand in the way of war, and that they were still considering bombing the country. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio, “No option needs to be off the table.” Defense Minister Ehud Barak quickly lashed out against the US intelligence estimate, which states that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, by irresponsibly claiming that “as far as we know it has probably since revived it”.

Right-wing opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu was asked whether Israel should launch its own military operation against Iran if political hawks in America did not proceed with the plan. Netanyahu replied, “We always prefer international action, led by the United States, but we have to ensure that we can protect our country with all means.” Notice that “international action” means Israeli/American action. Avigdor Lieberman, hard-right deputy prime minister and all around genocidal douchebag, said that Israel should take military action if sanctions did not work. Why sanctions were still needed against an NPT-signatory country with no ambitions to build a nuclear weapon was not discussed.

Some have suggested that with Israel feeling isolated by its hardline stance on Iran, it might be more inclined to launch a unilateral military strike and a comparison is frequently drawn to Israel’s 1981 bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor. David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector, said this week if Israel felt its “red line” had been crossed it might strike. “They may force a military confrontation,” he told the Associated Press agency.

However, it is widely assumed Israel would need at least American approval if not cooperation for any bombing mission. In particular, Israel’s air force would need the US flight codes that would allow its planes to cross safely into Iran. When Israel requested those codes in 1991, to attack Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the first Gulf War, the United States refused and there was no Israeli strike.

Yet Israel, the only nuclear power in the region, is not shy of acting alone and has been heartened by the lack of international censure over its bombing raid in northern Syria in September, which may or may not have targeted a Syrian nuclear installation.

The Israeli plan to bomb Iran has been in the making for quite some time. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh reported last year that Israel’s “cheap war with many benefits” against Hezbollah in Lebanon was merely “a prototype for a potential US preemptive attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations.” US and Israeli officials worked closely on the offensive which claimed over a thousand civilian lives. Israel had been planning the operation for months prior to the apprehension of two Israeli soldiers, which they claimed justified the war. Israeli pilots have also been training for a 2,000 mile round-trip to Iran, and sources have previously stated that if the United States declines to intervene with a conventional attack, then Israel will take action with a nuclear strike.

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