The Benny Morris op-ed in the NYT last Friday should provide convincing
evidence that Israel really really really wants an attack against Iran
sooner rather than later. Morris is close to the Israeli government and
his case that Iran must be bombed soon and with maximum conventional
weaponry to avoid using nukes later was clearly intended to push the
United States to do the attacking. The likelihood that Dick Cheney is
almost certainly supportive of a US pre-emptive strike and might well
be pulling strings behind the scenes, possibly without the knowledge of
the Great Decider, makes the next several months particularly
significant if a war is to be avoided.

Some intel types are beginning to express concerns that the Israelis
might do something completely crazy to get the US involved. There are a
number of possible “false flag” scenarios in which the Israelis could
insert a commando team in the Persian Gulf or use some of their people
inside Iraq to stage an incident that they will make to look Iranian,
either by employing Iranian weapons or by leaving a communications
footprint that points to Tehran’s involvement.

Those who argue that Israel would never do such a thing should think
again. Israel is willing to behave with complete ruthlessness towards
the US if they feel that the stakes are high enough, witness the attack
on the USS Liberty and the bombing of the US Consulate in Alexandria in
the 1950s. If they now believe that Iran is a threat that must be
eliminated it is not implausible to assume that they will stop at
nothing to get the the United States to do it for them, particularly as
their air force is only able to damage the Iranian nuclear program, not
destroy it.