Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the coalition from April of US, European, and Sunni countries helping protect Israel from an Iranian attack had held together despite concerns.
After Israel killed Hezbollah military chief Fuad Shukr and Iran attributed to Israel the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh on July 29, the ongoing criticism of how Israel has handled the current war from countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt, who all assisted in various ways to defend Israel from Iran in April, significantly intensified.
A number of officials from some of those countries publicly threatened or anonymously implied that they might not assist in defending Israel again this time, given that they blamed Jerusalem for not taking a hostage deal and for reinflaming the region with those attacks.
For its part, Israel had said it needed to respond to the killing of around 12 Druze-Israelis in Majdal Shams by Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy.
Threats drawing out over time
As Iran and Hezbollah’s threats have drawn out over a longer period of time, it seems that Washington had greater success in convincing moderate Sunni countries that, however upset they were of certain Israeli policy decisions, it was still in their interest to help defend Israel, and especially not to allow their airspace to be used to attack Israel.
Geographically, it is complicated for Iran to attack Israel without using other countries’ airspace since there is no common border and the countries are over 1,500 kilometers away from each other.
FADC Chairman Yuli Edelstein alluded to receiving a briefing from Gallant about shifting Israel’s attention from a Gaza first attitude, with Lebanon being the less important front, to a Lebanon first attitude, with Gaza being the less important front.
Gallant has pushed hard in recent weeks for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seal a hostage deal with Hamas to halt the war in Gaza in order to make such a shift.
Edelstein did not take sides on the debate, but his public raising of the issue could suggest that he may side with Gallant.
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