April 1: Israel bombed the Iranian consulate, an act of war. April 13: Iran attacked Israel, an act of war. Biden says: you're even-steven -- and he's right. Israel says: no way. This is going to escalate. Of course it will.
@DavidSacks, I think you got a few things wrong here and you left some things out. October 7th, Hamas, an Iranian proxy that Iran has funded for decades, invades Israel, kills 1,200 civilians and takes 240 hostages. April 1st, in a surgical strike, Israel takes out Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, known for his “strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front as well as in planning and executing the Al-Aqsa Storm [Oct. 7th],’ and six other Iranian military leaders. See: nypost.com/2024/04/14/wor… Killing the person who designed and executed the Oct. 7th attack is not an act of war. It is justice delivered, no different than our taking out Bin Laden for his role on September 11th. Also, Israel did not bomb the Iranian embassy in Syria. It destroyed an annex building adjoining the embassy. The embassy/consulate is still standing. April 13th, Iran attacks @Israel with 350 drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles, an act of war against Israel. @POTUS Biden says even-steven, but he is wrong. How can Israel allow Iran to launch 350 munitions against its homeland and do nothing? How will that deter Iran or other enemies in the future? Israel will respond. I expect it will go after military targets, namely Iran’s weapons-making capabilities to disable its ability to launch a similar attack in the future. Hopefully, it ends there. And yes, no one wants this to escalate. But ask yourself, how would the U.S. or any other country respond to Iran?
@BillAckman, I thought Sinwar was the Bin Laden of this situation. See for example: washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/… Now you’re telling me that the real mastermind — “the person who designed and executed the Oct. 7th attack” — is Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi. What I did not know until this day, it was Zahedi all along. Let’s consider the claim that Iran secretly directed October 7. We’ve heard this before: On October 8, just one day after the atrocities, the WSJ ran a story claiming that Iranian security officials “helped plan” and “gave the green light” for the attack: wsj.com/world/middle-e… Biden administration officials and U.S. intelligence sources immediately threw cold water on that claim. Blinken went on the record with NBC News that there was no direct evidence that Hamas was involved in the Hamas attack: nbcnews.com/politics/white… And a preliminary report by US intelligence agencies concluded that Tehran was surprised by the attacks. The U.S. official who shared the assessment told the WSJ: “We have not currently seen anything to suggest Iran supported or was behind the attack.” wsj.com/world/middle-e… Although these sources acknowledged that Iran supplied Hamas with money and weapons, it was not the only country to do so. It turned out that Qatar was a significant financial backer of Hamas. According to NYT: “For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip — money that helped prop up the Hamas government there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not only tolerated those payments, he had encouraged them.” nytimes.com/2023/12/10/wor… The stories about direct Iranian involvement in October 7 seemed to wane after those initial reports and strong administration denials. But then today, April 14, we suddenly have a story from the Jerusalem Post, reprinted by NY Post, saying that Iran definitely did it. I’m certainly open to this possibility. But given the fact that hardliners have been braying for war with Iran for decades... (see for example: nytimes.com/2019/05/13/wor… nytimes.com/2007/11/09/wor… ) and given that the U.S. was misled into the Iraq War with phony links between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hu…), I’m going to need to see some hard evidence. Not just one extremely well-timed newspaper story. As to the larger point about escalation, we’re in agreement that neither of us wants to see a regional war. Neither of us wants to see anything bad happen to Israel. There is one guaranteed way to avoid a regional war right now and that’s for Israel to step off the escalation ladder. We can disagree about whether that's fair or not, but it's what's likely to produce the best outcome. Unfortunately I expect that won't happen and the results will be tragic for everyone involved.
@BillAckman @DavidSacks Actually bill Israel created and funded Hamas, NOT Iran!
@BillAckman @DavidSacks Bill - you are exactly right here. This is not a situation where Israel “started it” on April 1. Iran has been funding and indirectly attacking Israel for years, even before 10/7.
@BillAckman @DavidSacks Spot on commentary, clear, precise and easy for everyone to understand. Who ever is running our foreign policy has it all wrong, the world does not respect the USA. When the leading country of the free world isn’t respected, all hell breaks out, which we are witnessing now.
@BillAckman @DavidSacks Bill A. As usual, you are clear concise and correct
@BillAckman @DavidSacks In 50y you guys will be invading Lebanon Because they stood there and did nothing for October 7th 2023. This violence has to stop 🛑 The circle will never end with violence
@BillAckman @DavidSacks I think you forgot the main problem. 75 years of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. And of course it will end one day when all of the occupiers have left our lands.
@BillAckman @DavidSacks David Sacks probably thinks killing Bin Laden was escalatory.
@BillAckman @DavidSacks Plus the April 13th attack by Iran was aimed at civilians not military targets
I would hope of one thing: The US does not go to war in Iran. If the Israelis want to fight Iran, which clearly they do, then let them fight on their own. I'm tired of these warring factions. Too many zealots these days. Though I am not delusional and I expect congress will declare war with Iran if Israel does.