Bergman concludes, "For the first time since the Iranian threat emerged, Israeli leaders believe these conditions may have been met."
In light of his conclusion regarding the Israeli leadership (which according to Israeli law, only the 14 members of the security cabinet have the authority to make the decision on whether to go to war), what is particularly striking is Bergman's interviews one year ago with the outgoing chief of Mossad, Meir Dagan who warned, "The working assumption that it is possible to totally halt the Iranian nuclear project by means of a military attack is incorrect. There is no such military capability. That for the heads of the government to even contemplate attacking Iran is a "foolish idea". Attacking Iran would start an unwanted war with Hezbollah and Hamas"Syria"civilians in the front lines. What is Israel's defensive capability against such an offensive? I know of no solution that we have for this problem. I have expressed my opinion to Israel's decision makers." Dagan further added, "The Iranian threat is not imminent and a military strike would be catastrophic."
Despite these openly expressed reservations by Mossad's Dagan, from Bergman's perspective, the Israeli leadership will decide to strike Iran anyway, seemingly with the consequences of the attack be damned.
If Bergman's assessment is correct, the die seems cast and another unnecessary conflagration is on the near horizon with Israeli leadership paranoia trumping all other reason and rationality, including its own intelligence establishment.
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