Updated: Israel keeps us guessing; Deserts Miss Rain
Netanyahu strings allies along over his next move against Iran and Hamas; floods in Dubai and what it might tell us about geo-engineering the climate
Ever deceptive Netanyahu keeps the world guessing
Benjamin Netanyahu is keeping the world guessing about his next move against Iran and Hamas a week after his allies and the Israeli missile defence system saved Israel from a potentially devastating but ultimately symbolic Iranian attack.
His biographer and often harsh critic, Anshel Pfeffer, said Netanyahu was trying to decide whether to side with his domestic political partners or international allies, who want him as Joe Biden said to “take the win” and not retaliate against Iran.
“To keep the Biden Coalition against Iran, Netanyahu must agree to defer Israel’s retaliation to the Iranian attack. But his nationalist base and far-right coalition are demanding a devastating response now,” Pfeffer said in a series of comments on X.
Updated: So, now we know: Israel went for a finely calibrated response with what appears to have been a modest strike towards Iranian military and nuclear facilities near the central city of Isfahan. Intriguing that both sides are being tentative but knowing they appear to have to answer the demands of domestic audiences.
To know more on this developing story:
- Iranian air defence systems activated as Israel launches strikes – visual guide - The Guardian
- Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy on the excellent Media Confidential podcast with former Guardian and FT editors Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber
- Israel's Response to Iran's Attack Impacts the Legitimacy of an Operation in Rafah - an analysis on Haaretz about the implications of the Iranian attack for Gaza.
From earlier: Given the extraordinary military coordination and defence of Israel mounted by its allies over the weekend it would seem remarkable that Netanyahu could ignore their entreaties not to step up the confrontation with Tehran. As we discussed last week it is clear that Iran wants its strikes seen as a final response to Israel’s earlier attack on its consulate on Damascus in which several key Revolutionary Guard leaders died.
It now seems probable that by sitting on plans to attack Iran for a while Netanyahu will take the initiative for a final push against Hamas in Gaza, a story which has been sublimated after six months of wall-to-wall coverage by the prospect of a wider war.
Go deeper on this story - good reads
Middle East crisis: visual guide to Iran’s attack on Israel is a Guardian report which explains just how the allies and various elements of the Israeli missile defence worked.
A year of the Shahed is an explanation from the defence site Airwars that explains the how Iranian suicide drones changed the battlefield in Ukraine and now in Israel.
Iran Just Made a Big Mistake. Israel Shouldn’t Follow, is a Thomas Friedman commentary in The New York Times.
An X user @Natsecjeff., who appears linked to a think tank supposedly working against Islamic terror, shared images of graffiti in the Iranian capital allegedly sympathizing with Israel and calling on it to attack the Islamic state.
Recommended reads on other topics
There are varied takes on whether rainmaking efforts in the United Arab Emirates could have caused or contributed to the biblical rain that hit Dubai and other northern emirates causing chaos, flooding, several deaths, and vast disruption.
Bloomberg News reported that UAE cloud-seeding aircraft had been working a couple of days before the heavy rain, writing: “Dubai experienced record rainfall leading to flooding April 16 after cloud seeding, though there was debate over whether the two were connected.”
It is an excellent piece on what cloud-seeding is and what the implications might be for this sort of activity and for the idea of geo-engineering to fight climate change.
Separate reports, including this from Wired were more sceptical.
Whether the weather in Dubai was triggered or worsened by cloud-seeding it does seem highly coincidental that the rain was so bad a day or two after the acknowledged rainmaking operation but of course climate experts also say that we can expect many more frequent and severe weather incidents
The rain-making claims reminded me of a fascinating older story in The Guardianhttps://open.spotify.com/album/0lf28ipSLeIK0GgtIo978j?autoplay=true which talked about long-hidden UK government research on rainmaking including an immense flood in Devon in 1952 that killed 35 people but was covered up.
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