Sedra: Will Obama be successful in convincing Netanyahu not to strike Iran?

By:

, /

5 March, 2012

By: Paul Sedra

Associate Professor of Middle East History, Simon Fraser University

President Obama has made it clear that his administration does not support a military strike against Iran at this time (particularly in an election year). I tend to believe the rhetoric of top Israeli political leaders, like Prime Minister Netanyahu, that Israel will act alone if it feels it has to. After all, many of those leaders and their supporters have been making a robust case for war at home and around the world for several years now. Despite unease in broader Israeli society over the prospects of a military confrontation with Iran, there appears to be a consensus within the Netanyahu government that a successful strike against Iran is possible and that the benefits of action will outweigh the risks (see Ronen Bergman article in NYT Magazine). In this light, I think an Israeli strike against Iran in 2012 is a very real possibility, and I am not convinced the Netanyahu government will even require a “green light” from its American partner to do so. I hope I am wrong, as this will have catastrophic consequences for an already volatile region.

Before you click away, we’d like to ask you for a favour …

Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. It’s expensive, and Canadians, oceans away from most international upheavals, pay the outside world comparatively little attention.

At Open Canada, we believe this must change. If anything, the pandemic has taught us we can’t afford to ignore the changing world. What’s more, we believe, most Canadians don’t want to. Many of us, after all, come from somewhere else and have connections that reach around the world.

Our mission is to build a conversation that involves everyone — not just politicians, academics and policy makers. We need your help to do so. Your support helps us find stories and pay writers to tell them. It helps us grow that conversation. It helps us encourage more Canadians to play an active role in shaping our country’s place in the world.

Become a Supporter