Thread excerpting Israel Shahak's 1993 article "Israel vs Iran".
Highlights how much has changed whilst staying the same. Shahak was a unique figure as an Israeli who opposed both the Socialist Left & Religious Right (at home & abroad), as well as the post-1967 occupation.🧵
Identical Israeli arguments 30 years ago warning of the purported horrors Iran would unleash if it got Nukes.
As early as 1992 Israel was urging Iran recieve the same treatment as Iraq, claiming its denuclearisation was only possible with (presumably American) ground troops.
Fervent Israeli hopes Iran would attempt something reckless like Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.
Open Israeli proposals to "create a situation" that would provoke Iran into war with Saudi/UAE over some Persian Gulf islands. Seems Mossad underestimated Iran's capacity for restraint.
Amusing account of deep Mossad disappointment & thinly veiled contempt meeting with the deposed Shah's son. Having escaped his mother's "beneficial" influence, he preferred partying in New York over any hare-brained plans to overthrow the Mullahs & reoccupy the Pahlavi throne.
A prediction Shahak dismissed as lurid: A Nuclear Iran deterring full Israeli retaliation against a hypothetical Palestinian state. It looks as if it's come true at first, but the 2024 strike was retalition for Iran's Syrian embassy loss. But longterm trend for Israel looks grim.
Long after Vanunu (caught by Honeytrap, imprisoned 18 years, 11 solitary) blew the whistle on Israel's nukes, Israeli journalists such as @Ran_Edelist could still recieve veiled threats from Shin-Bet (akin to the FBI or FSB) for questions about safe disposal of nuclear waste.
Funny example of Shimon Peres' famous talent for dissimulation being used. Peres would "elegantly" scuttle Middle-East regional disarmament negotiations by demanding impossible conditions for conferences: joint US/Russian chairing, attendance of mutually warring Arab states, etc.
Shahak on the hubris & paranoia (even towards allies) characterising Israeli intelligence. Attempt to turn Lebanon into a vassal. Contemplation of taking Egypt's Alexandria as a bargaining chip for Sinai. Rabin saw the 1st Intifada first as incited by Iran, then by Western media.
Shahak claims Israeli view of Arabs/Islam as identical to European imperial thinking. I actually think they're entirely correct, but I still think Israel has massively overreached. Interesting digression on Kedourie, who wanted an Israel within a continuing British Empire.
Orientalist doctrine recommending natives be ruled by "their traditional nobles but not by persons with intellectual capacity". Can't help thinking of Saudi Arabia's MBS squandering his country's entire sovereign wealth fund on "The Line".
Conclusion. Hubris, apparent ignorance that Iran is far stronger & unified than any Arab state. Sharon wanted to send paratroopers to Iran in 1979 to crush million-strong protests before Begin stopped him! 30 years later & little has changed. Doubt any denouement soon either.🧵/
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