Israel is unlikely to attack Iran now, nor will it turn its guns on Rafah in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinian refugees are camped along with the remnants of the Hamas brigades and of course the Israeli hostages taken last October.
Khinvraj Jangid, Visiting Faculty at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, told StratNews Global from Tel Aviv, that the blunting of Iran’s mass drone strikes on Sunday has come as a shot in the arm, giving renewed confidence to the people and the nation.
It explains Israel’s defence minister telling the US they had no date for an attack on Iran contrary to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claim.
The recent crisis has also laid bare the divisions within the ruling establishment with the military and security/intelligence wings not appearing to trust Netanyahu. Reports that the prime minister was less than enthusiastic about getting back the hostages has added to public anger.
But Jangid notes that the conservative ruling coalition that Netanyahu heads is still going strong and in fact, is unlikely to break. The US-Israeli relationship has undergone strains but remains intact even if the Democrats don’t like Netanyahu.
As for Iran, at the risk of losing face with its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis, it remains content with its Sunday strike that did not hurt Israel. Clearly, the Iranian leadership recognized its relative weaknesses after decades of sanctions. Probably a case of keeping the power dry.
