Empty Words and Lots of Noise
Israel Has No 'Iran Policy'

Tehran (qodsna)- If Washington and Tehran fail to seal a nuclear deal, Israel may be forced to do something it dreads: craft a policy and not be content with anonymous 'senior sources' muttering about how the Americans blindsided Israel. 

It sounds like the beginning of a skit. An upset Israel is sending its national security adviser on an urgent mission to Washington to alert the U.S. administration about glaring weaknesses in the European Union’s final draft of a renewed Iranian nuclear deal.

That’s right, Israel thoroughly dissected the document, while the White House, National Security Council, State Department and CIA either didn’t read or didn’t understand the document. Sounds logical.

Israel's concerns are real and justifiable, so why does this sound like a skit? Because we’re way past the end of America's attention span regarding Israel’s grievances, however valid.

Israel is showing up at the stadium after the game with the crowd gone, the lights out and the TV cameras packed up. In effect, Israel is briefing the catering and cleaning people and has no impact on whether there will be an agreement. If this is merely domestic political posturing, it’s an exercise in futility.

Because Israel realizes that the United States can live without an agreement while Israel conceivably cannot.

Because the United States leaving the negotiating table – which Israel reportedly suggested – is something the Americans have threatened since June 2021 without Israeli encouragement. In fact, the last time Israel encouraged Washington to make a course correction, it was the astute idea to withdraw from the nuclear agreement and effectively bring Iran to the precipice of a nuclear capability.

Because deep down Israel prefers an agreement it can admonish with righteous indignation over the absence of an agreement and the adverse consequences.

Because despite the grandstanding and platitudes, Israel doesn't have a grand Iran policy, just a sequence of never-ending complaints about the agreement. There was a notable, possibly dramatic, shift in Israel's approach to Iran, toward what is called “strategic proportionalism.” This means to hit Iran directly rather than its proxies, but in the context of Iran’s regional policies or what Israel calls the war between the wars.

And finally, because Israel is preaching to the generally disinterested. It seems that no one, with the exception of Israel and Iran, still cares enough about the nuclear agreement. Tone statements are being made, and “grave concerns” are being uttered, but relevant world attention lies elsewhere.

The United States can live without a nuclear agreement and with a nuclear-threshold Iran. It’s not ideal, but it's also not a prime U.S. interest.

Source: Haaretz
 

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