Baron Black's attack on Iran would be suicide for Israel

That’s why it doesn’t happen.

Conrad “Monty” Black’s prescription for peace in the Middle East, written on day he got into the cooking sherry a little earlier than usual, speculates that in the current climate of chaos wrought in the region by the Nations of Virtue, it might be a good idea if Israel, perhaps in concert with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, eliminated the threat of the imaginary Iranian nukes once and for all. (There had to be more than sherry at work here…)

Black, former publisher of the JPost, still hews to the Likud party line, and as the world knows, the Iran nuke has been a bee in Bibi’s bonnet for a quarter century now. Yes, those Iranian nuclear engineers have been months away from a nuclear weapon since the early nineties!

So why does the IAF not do something about it?

The IAF/IDF at the upper echelons are populated with serious people who don’t taking the yapping of ultra-nationalist politicians and armchair warmongers seriously. While Conrad Black can gloat about the IDF’s “thrashing” of Hamas from his mansion in Toronto, Benny Gantz acknowledges the courage of the Hamas fighters. Gantz understands that the only result of an unnecessary war that took the lives of five dozen IDF troops was to enhance the prestige of Hamas among the Palestinians.

That’s what Mr. Black calls a thrashing of Hamas. The only thing thrashed by Operation Over the Edge was Israel’s standing in world opinion.

The serious people understand the limits of what the IDF can and cannot do. They can’t destroy Hezbollah, they can’t destroy Hamas, and they certainly won’t destroy Iran. Even in a nuclear first strike, there will be enough assets left over among Iran and her allies that Israel would be obliterated.

For their part, the Iranians understand that any attack on Israel would be suicidal as well.

What we’ve got here is MAD lite. Might as well get used to it, live with it, and make the best of it. The threat of mutually assured destruction kept the peace between NATO and the Soviet bloc for 50 years; it can do the same for Iran and Israel.