History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now finds himself in precisely the same strategic position as Winston Churchill in 1940: he needs to draw a reluctant USA into a war with a mortal enemy bent on his nation’s destruction.
Although some may think it dubious to draw a comparison between the controversial and embattled Israeli Prime Minister and the British statesman widely seen as the saviour of freedom and western democracy, their respective positions today and early in the second world war are practically identical.
Like Churchill back in the day, Netanyahu now needs America’s power and active participation in the war to ensure that a decisive blow is turned into a final victory
As soon as he was brought to power in May 1940, Churchill was clear about his principal aim: to get the might of the neutral United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt into the battle to save Britain, Europe and the world from Hitler’s genocidal tyranny. Similarly, ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu has to bring US power to bear on the Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure Israel’s survival in the face of the existential threat posed by the murderous Mullahs of Teheran.
In particular, if the danger to Israel posed by Iran’s nuclear weapons programme is to be permanently removed, only the deep penetration ‘bunker busting’ GBU-57 bombs deployed by America’s B-2 stealth aircraft can reach the underground vaults where Iran’s nukes are stored. So far, despite the damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear facilities by Israel’s devastating raids on the Islamic Republic, these bunkers remain largely untouched and inviolate and only the US super weapons can reach them.
Like Roosevelt in 1940, President Trump is deeply reluctant to get the US involved in another conflict. Indeed, he was elected on the promise of not entering another ‘forever war’ in the Middle East. A war weary American public is deeply sceptical of sending more US boys into another war like the disastrous interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So far, President Trump has put his faith in negotiations with the Ayatollahs to achieve a ‘deal’ to halt Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons. Those talks were due to have resumed this weekend, but the process was rudely interrupted by Israel’s attacks on Iran which Netanyahu declared was the only way that Israel’s safety and security could be guaranteed.
But, as Iran’s lethal retaliation raids on Israel with drones and missiles proves, Iran’s military capability may have been crippled, but it retains an ability to hit back hard. Like Churchill back in the day, Netanyahu now needs America’s power and active participation in the war to ensure that a decisive blow is turned into a final victory.
Eighty-five years ago, it took Japan’s direct assault on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 to finally draw America into the struggle against the Axis powers and ensure a final Allied triumph. Like Trump today, Roosevelt had been willing to supply a desperate Britain with military help – ships and weapons – but it took the surprise raid on Pearl Harbor to actually bring the US into the war.
Trump has written on his Truth Social site that, ‘If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.’
This morning, the US Embassy in Israel was damaged by an Iranian missile. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said the building in Tel Aviv was damaged ‘from concussions of Iranian missile hits’ with no US personnel injured. It’s not clear if Trump will consider this as being attacked, ‘in any way, shape or form’. But it’s certain that if Iran continues in this vein, and carries out its threats to hit US bases in the Middle East, then Donald Trump will be dragged kicking and screaming into Israel’s war for sheer survival.
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