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The Age
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
For all its faults, Israel has been a scapegoat
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@ Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published. MIDDLE EAST Patrick Kingsley's article, (' Israel has shifted Middle East dial ', 20/6), is refreshingly incisive in that it effectively challenges the narrative that Israel has been an imperialistic tormentor of Arab nations. As he points out, over a period of 20 years the region's only democratic state has, relative to its potent military strength, acted with restraint, its containment policy having allowed Hamas in 2006 to control the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah to operate in southern Lebanon and Iran's dreadful mullah-led regime in concert with the malign Revolutionary Corps to exist relatively unhindered. Meanwhile, Arab nations characterised by a mix of quasi-feudal, oil-rich and misogynist potentates have been viewed as lacking in agency; when, in reality, they have oppressed their populations terribly. In the case of Iran, a nation with a proud Persian history, the Western world has largely ignored the terrible consequences of its Islamist rulers' brutal oppression of a sophisticated populace since the late 1970s. Trump's dithering over whether to act decisively against a regime that has through its proxies been the scourge of the Middle East for too long says it all. Israel, for all of its faults, has for too long been a convenient scapegoat. Jon McMillan, Mt Eliza Trump has his finger on the trigger Samuel Colt, the American who made the mass production of guns viable, had a famous quote: ″God made man, Colt makes them equal″. US President Donald Trump with his statements appears to be channelling this notion with his threats of aggression towards Iran. History indicates that negotiating with a gun held to your head is a pointless exercise, while popular wisdom indicates that you should never point a gun at someone unless you are prepared to shoot. Therefore, the person with the gun to their head should always assume the gun isn't loaded. The gun holder has only two options – either pull the trigger or capitulate. Is Trump willing to pull the trigger and plunge America and the Middle East into chaos? The rest of the world should hope not. Peter Roche, Carlton Australian troops must be kept out of any conflict The late Tom Uren was a mentor to our current prime minister. Uren was a pacifist who decried the call to arms to pointless conflicts. I sincerely hope that his influence on Anthony Albanese lingers in his thinking to prevent the possibility of sending our young people to the Middle East at the behest of the US. Peter Taylor, Midway Point, Tas Does Iran have weapons or not? Benjamin Netanyahu has been saying – since 2012 – that Iran is only weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon. I'm not sure which timetable he's checking but surely they would have had several by now? And have possibly used them? Doesn't this bring one to the conclusion that maybe they don't? David Jeffery, East Geelong Ask Australian-Iranians Amin Saikal has written that there is no evidence that Iran has a nuclear bomb (Opinion, ″ Few believe Iran has nuclear weapons. We can't afford to repeat the Iraq War lie ″, 19/6). However, there is plenty of evidence that it has enriched uranium well above the level required for peaceful purposes. Also, it has given many millions of dollars of weapons to its proxy militias in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. These militias could then use it to make ″dirty″ radioactive bombs. Saikal seems to be taking the line that this is like the war in Iraq, for those non-existent weapons of mass destruction. This could actually be read as a call for the left in the West to support Iran, a totalitarian regime that has not even bothered to provide its citizens with bomb shelters. Iran has been calling for ″Death to America!″ and ″Death to Israel!″ from its inception. There are plenty of Iranians now in Australia who have good reasons to fear this regime. Ask them what they think. Pia Brous, Armadale Lack of moral authority In his opinion piece condemning Israel's strikes on Iran's weapons-making capabilities, Amin Saikal (20/6) – as a counterpoint to US support for Israel – cites 'Russia and China [who] have condemned Israel for starting the war (with Iran)', as supposedly credible moral authorities. Is he serious? These are two brutal regimes: One actively waging an unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine, the other engaged in the systemic oppression of Uyghurs and Tibetans. Invoking them to moralise on Israel's actions against Iran – a regime that funds and arms terrorist proxies across the Middle East, and openly professes its ambitions to annihilate Israel – is astonishing. That Saikal relies on the support of such regimessays more about the weakness of his argument than it does about Israel's right to defend itself against a brutal dictatorship hell-bent on its destruction. Jonathan Bradley Slade, Toorak Deal making How about this deal? Trump tells Israel to stop bombing and Iran to stop retaliating for two weeks so Iran can come to the table whilst not under attack. If Israel doesn't stop, then the US doesn't help Israel and it is on its own. If Iran doesn't stop or doesn't come to the table then the US will join in the war. Surely, this gives both parties something to think about and is not so one-sided? Aren't good deals about negotiation, give and take with a win/win for both parties, not win/lose. Mira Antonioum, Brighton
Business Standard
a day ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Can Israel's interceptors outlast Iran's missiles as war drags on?
By Patrick Kingsley, Adam Rasgon, Ronen Bergman, Natan Odenheimer and Julian E. Barnes Aside from a potentially game-changing American intervention that shapes the fate of Iran's nuclear program, two factors will help decide the length of the Israel-Iran war: Israel's reserve of missile interceptors and Iran's stock of long-range missiles. Since Iran started retaliating against Israel's fire last week, Israel's world-leading air defense system has intercepted most incoming Iranian ballistic missiles, giving the Israeli Air Force more time to strike Iran without incurring major losses at home. Now, as the war drags on, Israel is firing interceptors faster than it can produce them. That has raised questions within the Israeli security establishment about whether the country will run low on air defense missiles before Iran uses up its ballistic arsenal, according to eight current and former officials. Already, Israel's military has had to conserve its use of interceptors and is giving greater priority to the defense of densely populated areas and strategic infrastructure, according to the officials. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak more freely. Interceptors are 'not grains of rice,' said Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav, who commanded Israel's air defense system until 2021 and still serves in the military reserve. 'The number is finite.' 'If a missile is supposed to hit refineries in Haifa, it's clear that it's more important to intercept that missile than one that will hit the Negev desert,' General Kochav said. Conserving Israel's interceptors is 'a challenge,' he added. 'We can make it, but it's a challenge.' Asked for comment on the limits of its interceptor arsenal, the Israeli military said in a brief statement that it 'is prepared and ready to handle any scenario and is operating defensively and offensively to remove threats to Israeli civilians.' Image At the start of the war, some Israeli officials estimated that Iran had roughly 2,000 ballistic missiles. Between a third and a half of those have been used up, Israeli officials say — either because Iran has fired them at Israel, or because Israel has struck the caches where they were stored. Iran has begun to fire far fewer missiles in its barrages, perhaps aware that it risks running out of munitions. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. At the same time, Israel is also burning through its interceptors. By Wednesday morning, Iran had fired roughly 400 missiles, nearly 40 of which evaded the Israeli air defense system and hit Israeli neighborhoods, according to the Israeli military. The remaining 360 were either hit by interceptors or monitored until they fell on empty land or into the sea, the military said. Some Iranian missiles might have been hit more than once, and the total number of used interceptors is unclear. No Israeli official would divulge the number of interceptors left at Israel's disposal; the revelation of such a closely guarded secret could give Iran a military advantage. The answer will affect Israel's ability to sustain a long-term, attritional war. The nature of the war will partly be decided by whether President Trump decides to join Israel in attacking Iran's nuclear enrichment site at Fordo, in northern Iran, or whether Iran decides to give up its enrichment program to prevent such an intervention. But the war's endgame will also be shaped by how long both sides can sustain the damage to their economies, as well as the damage to national morale caused by a growing civilian death toll. Israel relies on at least seven kinds of air defense. Most of them involve automated systems that use radar to detect incoming missiles and then provide officers with suggestions of how to intercept them. Military officials have seconds to react to some short-range fire, but minutes to judge the response to long-range attacks. At times, the automated systems do not offer recommendations, leaving officers to make decisions on their own, General Kochav said. The Arrow system intercepts long-range missiles at higher altitudes; the David's Sling system intercepts them at lower altitudes; while the Iron Dome takes out shorter-range rockets, usually fired from Gaza, or the fragments of missiles already intercepted by other defense systems. The United States has supplied at least two more defense systems, some of them fired from ships in the Mediterranean, and Israel is also trying out a new and relatively untested laser beam. Finally, fighter jets are deployed to shoot down slow-moving drones. Some Israelis feel it is time to wrap up the war before Israel's defenses are tested too severely. At least 24 civilians have been killed by Iran's strikes, and more than 800 have been injured. Some key infrastructure, including oil refineries in northern Israel, has been hit, along with civilian homes. A hospital in southern Israel was struck on Thursday morning. Already high by Israeli standards, the death toll could rise sharply if the Israeli military is forced to limit its general use of interceptors in order to guarantee the long-term protection of a few strategic sites like the Dimona nuclear reactor in southern Israel or the military headquarters in Tel Aviv. 'Now that Israel has succeeded in striking most of its nuclear targets in Iran, Israel has a window of two or three days to declare the victory and end the war,' said Zohar Palti, a former senior officer in the Mossad, Israel's spy agency. 'When planning how to defend Israel in future wars, no one envisaged a scenario in which we would be fighting on so many fronts and defending against so many rounds of ballistic missiles,' said Mr. Palti, who was for years involved in Israel's defensive planning. Others are confident that Israel will be able to solve the problem by destroying most of Iran's missile launchers, preventing the Iranian military from using the stocks that it still has. Iran has both fixed and mobile launchers, scattered across its territory, according to two Israeli officials. Some of its missiles are stored underground, where they are harder to destroy, while others are in aboveground caches, the officials said. The Israeli military says it has destroyed more than a third of the launchers. Officials and experts say that has already limited the number of missiles that Iran can fire in a single attack. American officials said Israel's strikes against the launchers have decimated Iran's ability to fire its missiles and hurt its ability to create large-scale barrages. 'The real issue is the number of launchers, more than the number of missiles,' said Asaf Cohen, a former Israeli commander who led the Iran department in Israel's military intelligence directorate. 'The more of them that are hit, the harder it will be for them to launch barrages,' Mr. Cohen added. 'If they realize they have a problem with launch capacity, they'll shift to harassment: one or two missiles every so often, aimed at two different areas simultaneously.'
New York Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Thursday Briefing: Aid Chaos Grows in Gaza
The U.N. condemned Israel's chaotic aid program The U.N. yesterday criticized Israel's new aid operation in Gaza as the country faced mounting anger from Europe over the war and growing pressure from the U.S. to reach a truce. A senior U.N. humanitarian official called the Israeli attempt to control the aid to the Palestinians part of 'an assault on their human dignity.' Scores were injured during a rush on a food site on Tuesday, when the program launched. The U.N. World Food Program said that crowds 'of hungry people broke into' its warehouse in central Gaza yesterday, and that at least two people had died. 'The new U.N. criticism came as no surprise,' Patrick Kingsley, our Jerusalem bureau chief, told me. 'For weeks, the U.N. has warned that the new system — which replaces one run by U.N. agencies — may endanger Palestinians.' 'Israel says the new system makes it harder for Hamas to steal and hoard food,' Patrick added. 'The U.N. warns it will put civilians at risk by forcing them to walk for miles to a handful of sites in Israeli-controlled areas — and possibly contribute to an Israeli plan to displace the population of northern Gaza.' E.U. anger: European diplomats criticized both the aid program and Israel's offensive. 'The disproportionate use of force and the deaths of civilians cannot be tolerated,' said Kaja Kallas, the E.U.'s top diplomat, adding that aid 'must never be politicized or militarized.' Talks: President Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that the White House was preparing a fresh proposal and that he 'had some very good feelings about getting to a long-term cease-fire.' Germany promised to help arm Ukraine Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany said yesterday that his country would increase funding for the production of weapons — including long-range ones — and send more military equipment to Kyiv. The announcement came during a visit by Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to Berlin. The German Defense Ministry said the aid included cooperation in weapons construction, air-defense systems, hand-held and other weapons and financing of satellite communications. The value was roughly 5 billion euros. After traveling the world in search of weapons for years, Zelensky said this week that Kyiv now needed some $30 billion in annual financing to fund its domestic arms production at full capacity. In the U.S.: Trump yesterday again criticized President Vladimir Putin of Russia for attacks on Ukraine but declined to suggest any potential consequences. The U.S. paused foreign student visa interviews Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an order to temporarily halt interviews abroad with foreign citizens applying for student and exchange visas as it expands scrutiny of applicants' social media posts. The order comes as Trump is trying to coerce Harvard University and other institutions to restrict what can be said on campuses, with a focus on anti-Israel speech. Visiting professors from abroad will also be affected by the new restrictions. Foreign citizens with existing appointments should in theory still be able to attend them. Business and Finance In the U.S., re-enacting historical battles has long been a hobby. But recently, fake battles that echo an ongoing war have started to appear. My colleague Thomas Gibbons-Neff reported from Oklahoma, where two teams, representing NATO and Russian forces, took part in a simulation, battling for nearly two days with plastic pellet guns, blank ammunition, night-vision goggles and explosions. Read more here. The world in 1,726 wondrous objects A renovated wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with works from Africa, the Americas and Oceania, opens this weekend after four years. The 1,726 objects — majestic wood figures from Africa; mythical beings from Mexico; a Sistine-worthy ceiling of the South Seas from New Guinea — aren't just beautiful. They represent the spiritual, political and emotional lives of people spread over five continents and eight millenniums. Take a look. Bake: These pistachio halvah Rice Krispies treats come from a bakery in New York's East Village. Read: Stephen King's new novel, 'Never Flinch,' asks a question: Is the world totally fine, or is it, in fact, on fire? Watch: The comedy 'Adults' follows a crew of aimless 20-somethings living together in Queens. Consider: A small new study offers insight into plasma exchange therapy as an anti-aging treatment. Here's what to know. Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here. That's it for today. See you tomorrow. — Emmett We welcome your feedback. Send us your suggestions at briefing@
