Pinkas there emphasizes that Benjamin Netanyahu would very much like to drag the US more directly into the war against Iran.
He discusses the risks in a new analysis in The Independent, including his take on “Netanyahu’s unhinged, messianic approach to Iran.” (2) Netanyahu has political reasons (keeping his governing coalition together) and personal ones (staying out of jail if he has to step down as Prime Minister). But he seems to have made a regime-change war in Iran – which would require the US to take the primary role – as a key mission in his life. Pinkas describes it this way:
[In Netanyahu’s view,] Iran threatens not only Jewish civilisation, but the West – which makes Netanyahu not just the protector of Israel, his image initially bolstered after the 7 October Hamas attacks (and vastly diminished due to the death toll in Gaza since), but also the saviour of the West. This, he believes, is how he should go down in history.
The fact that he “Israelised” the Iranian threat is conveniently forgotten. He called for international cooperation… and when that produced an agreement, he was against it. Some, like him, may think of that as Churchillian. Others choose to evoke Nero Caesar. [my emphasis in bold]
The current situation is an ugly one. On the one hand, we have the master-manipulator and chronic warmonger Benjamin Netanyahu who has made it a central element of his life’s mission to drag the US into a regime-change war with Iran.
On the other hand, we have the Orange Anomaly, Donald Trump, who: has no strategic vision of foreign policy other than imposing tariffs (and he apparently doesn’t understand even the basics of how tariffs work); who has shown that he’s spectacularly incompetent on diplomacy (Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, Iran); and is working hard to set up an authoritarian form of government (in that he has at least something in common with Netanyahu).
If the US avoids getting dragged into a direct war with Iran, it will be dumb luck. And it will take ordinary citizens and their elected officials to actively oppose such a move to give dumb luck a chance on that score.
Netanyahu has been warning of an imminent Iranian nuclear threat for, uh, quite a while: (3)
Hanin Majadli expresses her concern about the wider fanaticism within Israel:
Since its founding, and even more so since October 7, 2023, Israel has cultivated a national psyche in which Jewish survival appears to rely on the destruction of the other. What would Israelis do if other countries took the same liberties that Israel takes for itself? The language, the statements, the tone of politicians, journalists and citizens alike all reveal the same truth: there's no cure. Israelis are blind, captive and incited.
And perhaps what's most frightening is that this logic no longer seems extreme, but has become the norm; that Israeli society, with its institutions, advisers, journalists, parents and children, has learned to think this way. The language itself has changed, and Israeli children will grow up immersed in it, unaware that another path exists. [my emphasis] (4)
Notes:
(1) Iran-Israel Tension: Latest update and in depth analysis. Al Jazeera English YouTube channel 06/15/2025. <https://youtu.be/p82sQJ4L5sI?si=As296FgUZrZbHyhf> (Accessed: 2025-15-06).
(2) Pinkas, Alan (2025): Why Israel’s attack on Iran proves Netanyahu is an unhinged messiah. The Independent 06/15/2025. <https://www.the-independent.com/voices/israel-attack-iran-benjamin-netanyahu-trump-b2769599.html> (Accessed: 2025-15-06).
(3) Benjamin Netanyahu's 33 years of Iran nuclear warnings. Al Jazeera English YouTube channel 06/17/20256. <https://youtu.be/Mzmtdwsef8s?si=DTO-ccaeg11nuDTZ> (Accessed: 2025-15-06).
(4) Majadli, Hanin (2025): If the World Adopted Israel's Norms of War, It Would Lead to Global Catastrophe. Haaretz 06/20/2025. <https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025-06-20/ty-article-opinion/.premium/if-the-world-adopted-israels-norms-of-war-it-would-lead-to-global-catastrophe/00000197-89a2-d528-a19f-a9aeb6590000> (Accessed: 2025-15-06).
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