Criticism from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, was directed at President Biden for exerting “enormous pressure” on Israel to limit its actions against Iran on Friday, following Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel after an earlier attack in Syria.
On Friday morning, Israeli forces targeted locations near an air base and nuclear facility in Iran. This operation appeared to be a response to drone and missile attacks that occurred the previous weekend.
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Bolton shared his perspective during the “Cats & Cosby” radio show, hosted by John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby, stating, “I think what Israel did, as far as it went, was fine.”
He expressed concern about the “enormous pressure” placed on Israel by the Biden administration, acknowledging the complexity of the situation. “I can appreciate that; it’s a difficult position to be in,” he added.
However, Bolton noted that within Israel’s war Cabinet, there was a belief that opposition leader Benny Gantz desired a more aggressive response. “And I think they should have,” Bolton asserted, suggesting that Iran was fortunate in this instance.
While Israeli officials had previously indicated a readiness to respond decisively to Iran’s recent aggression, their actual response was relatively muted. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had even declared during a Cabinet meeting that “[t]he state of Israel will do whatever is necessary to defend itself.”
Experts analyzed that Israel’s restrained response aimed to prevent further escalation of tensions between the Middle Eastern countries. “The goal was to restore deterrence and discourage any further Iranian attack on the Israeli homeland,” stated Richard Haass, the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
“But the Israeli action was also calibrated to make it easy for Iran not to respond. Israel’s government is not trumpeting what took place.”
In an NBC News interview on Friday evening, Iran’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian cast doubt on Israel’s involvement in the incident, stating that the military lacked evidence linking them to the attack. He also conveyed that while Iran would not retaliate for the strikes on Friday, it would respond if similar actions were taken again.
