Only Trump can finish what Israel started, former Israeli defence minister says
Yoav Gallant, Israel's former minister of defence, says this week is the one where US president Donald Trump has to make a decision to intervene in Israel's current war on Iran.
"Should he, or should he not, use American air power to finish the job Israel has very nearly completed, ensuring that Iran never possesses nuclear weapons?" Gallant and British historian Niall Ferguson wrote in a piece in The Free Press.
The two indicated that the support of allies, especially the US, has been essential for Israel.
"Now, with a single exertion of its unmatched military strength, the United States can shorten the war, prevent wider escalation, and end the principal threat to Middle Eastern stability," they added.
Gallant and Ferguson stress that a US intervention would "send a signal to those other authoritarian powers who have been Iran's enablers that American deterrence is back."
Gallant has an outstanding International Criminal Court warrant against him for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Dubai Eye
15 minutes ago
- Dubai Eye
Israel-Iran conflict deepens, European diplomacy steps in
As the air war between Israel and Iran enters its second week, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany are making renewed efforts to draw Iran back to negotiations, while US involvement remains undecided. Israel began striking Iranian targets last Friday, citing a mission to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks, insisting its nuclear program is peaceful. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, Israeli strikes have killed 639 people in Iran, including senior military officials and nuclear scientists. Iran's retaliatory attacks have reportedly killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel. Reuters has not independently verified the death tolls. While Israel has focused on nuclear and missile infrastructure, Western and regional officials say its broader aim includes destabilising the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Amid growing concerns of regional escalation, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany, along with the EU's foreign policy chief, are scheduled to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Geneva on Friday. 'Now is the time to stop the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a broader conflict that serves no one,' said British Foreign Minister David Lammy ahead of the meeting. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have condemned Israel's actions and called for de-escalation, according to the Kremlin. The US role remains uncertain. Lammy met in Washington with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to explore diplomatic options. Sources say Witkoff has held several phone calls with Araqchi since the conflict began. President Trump has alternated between threatening Tehran and encouraging a return to suspended nuclear talks. The White House said Trump will decide within two weeks whether the US will intervene militarily. However, observers note that the two-week timeline is often flexible, as Trump has previously allowed such deadlines to slip.
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Israeli strikes on Iran: ‘You can't bomb people into a revolution' Hoda Katebi
'You can't bomb people into a revolution.' That's how Iranian-American activist Hoda Katebi describes the escalating war between Israel and Iran, following a surprise large-scale Israeli strike, and the calls for regime change emerging. She reflects on the 'disgusting irony' of those who once supported Iranian women now cheering on Israeli strikes, and how narratives like 'liberation through bombing' only strengthen authoritarian governments. In this Real Talk interview, Hoda also opens up about what she's hearing from family on the ground inside Iran, as millions are told to evacuate the capital. Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form . More about MEE can be found here .
Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Times publishes column by Israeli wanted by ICC urging Trump to bomb Iran
A former Israeli defence minister with an international warrant out for his arrest has co-written a column with prominent British-American historian Niall Ferguson for The Times of London newspaper urging the US to enter Israel's conflict against Iran. Ferguson and Yoav Gallant, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Gaza, write in the column - which was published on Friday morning - that only the US air force "has the power to finish off Fordow", the site that holds the core of Iran's remaining nuclear enrichment capability. "Israel has done most of the job - now Trump can finish it," reads the piece's headline. The Times is one of Britain's oldest and most prestigious newspapers. Since Friday, when Israel launched its assault on Iran, Israel has repeatedly targeted the country's military and nuclear facilities, as well as assassinated high-profile security, intelligence and military commanders, along with prominent scientists. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The attacks, which have also targeted residential areas, have killed more 500 people and wounded at least 1,300, many of them civilians. In response, Iran has fired barrages of missiles towards Haifa, Tel Aviv and other major Israeli cities, killing dozens. "We both salute the extraordinary skill with which the Israel Defence Forces and Mossad have executed Israel's war plan," Ferguson and Gallant write. "Much of Iran's nuclear weapons programme now lies in ruins, and many of the scientists who ran it are dead. But one key site remains, at Fordow." 'Only America can do this' The column stresses that it is not realistic for Israel to "finish off Fordow". "Only America can do this. Only President Trump can order it." Ferguson and Gallant point to the title of Primo Levi's 1982 novel If Not Now, When?, which is "about a group of Jewish resistance fighters who desperately defy the might of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in the Second World War". Could David Cameron be prosecuted for threatening the ICC? Read More » On 5 November 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also wanted by the ICC, fired Gallant from his post as defence minister, citing a lack of mutual trust between them. Gallant was the defence chief at the time of the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel. He led the military's response, which began as an indiscriminate aerial bombardment campaign that eventually led to a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza. At the beginning of the war, Gallant described Palestinians as "human animals" and announced the imposition of a complete siege on Gaza, cutting off all electricity, fuel and food to the enclave. Ferguson is a historian and the author of Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World (2003) and Civilisation: the West and the Rest (2011). He was a strong supporter of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. "A nuclear-armed Iran would pose more than a threat to the Israeli people and their state," he and Gallant say in their column on Friday. "Its missiles could reach Gulf capitals and Europe." They conclude that "with a single exertion of its unmatched military strength, the US can shorten the war, prevent wider escalation and end the principal threat to Middle Eastern stability". The White House said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump would decide within the next two weeks whether the US would get directly involved in the conflict.
