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by jacquesm 72 days ago
Yes, and before you know it we're at the Balfour declaration. But none of that matters in the context of the situation on the ground (and, crucially, in the water) today which was entirely predictable (except by Trump, Hegseth & co). You either plan for that eventuality or you don't start the war.

Note that we're talking about the US and Iran, not about Israel, though obviously they are a massive factor here it is the US that is in the hot seat, both Israel and Iran were doing what they've been doing for many years.

2 comments

Why would we look back to the Balfour declaration? Israel has been attacked by tens of thousands of Iranian rockets and drones just since Oct 7.

After all their aggression, it seems absurd to paint the Iranian regime as a victim that was attacked "on a whim" and is owed reparations.

I can't find sources for "tens of thousands of rockets just since oct 7", can you help me? I see a few thousand as parts of exchanges after the Israel-initiated "12 Days War", and then a few thousand more after the (also Israel-initiated) current conflagration. Notably, the rocket attacks stopped during peace talks that US and Israel entered after starting the wars, only to resume after those peace talks were betrayed with bombing.
Not sure what the best data source is, but one data point is that just in the month or so since Oct 7, the number of rocket/drone attacks against Israel was already around 9,500: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-fires-rocket...
The above claim was that Iran had attacked with thousands of rockets. These are from Hamas.
The 9,500 figure was for all fronts, not just Gaza. But true, it does include some Hamas rockets, most of which are not exactly "Iranian" (although Iran helped with training and smuggling some parts).

Another data point - https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/one-year-war-israe...

> Since the start of the war, 13,200 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza. Another 12,400 were fired from Lebanon, while 60 came from Syria, 180 from Yemen and 400 from Iran, the military said.

So 12,400 rockets fired at Israel by Hezbollah, the vast majority of which are supplied by Iran at no cost. That's just in one year and doesn't include drones.

> except by Trump, Hegseth & co

Do not underestimate the current administration. They have other reasons for this conflict, and so does Netanyahu.