15 thoughts on “IDF Chief of Staff: Iran Hasn’t Engaged in First-Strike in 1,400 Years – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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    1. Israel always attacks Lebanon. Not the other way around. And aims at “bombing Lebanon back to the Middle Ages”. The good neighbor as always. Such a blessing to the Middle East.

    2. Iran has not made a first strike in 1400 years, but Israel has made over 10 serious first strikes during its 70 years long existance. Only one time has the first strike been made by Arabs. It is natural, that the opponents have created military counter measures against Israel constant agressions and invasions. Hezbollah has been able to create a real considerable national defence system, which makes Israel think really hard about the costs of invading again South Lebanon. A massive longer missile attack from Hezbollah would create considerable damages and push huge amounts of Jews moving out of Israel in panic. That would make Israel’s future as a Jewish state even more uncertain. And if Russia would take Lebanon under its air defence shield Israel would have rather few options left on their northern front. Hezbollah is a movement of millions of Lebanese created for their defence and to free them from Jewish occupation of South Lebanon, not something Iran created to irritate Israel.

    3. @ Fast Lane: I’m always amused by Israelis or their acolytes who moan about Hezbollah. Who do you think helped found Hezbollah? Israeli intelligence of course. As for your description of Hezbollah as “overly aggressive”…well, I don’t know. I’d say Israeli is far more aggressive than Hezbollah having killed far more in hostilities than Hezbollah and fighting in, and invading far more countries than Hezbollah ever has.

      As for Hezbollah’s purported “battle plan” to conquer the Galilee, that’s about as persuasive as that Iranian nuclear bomb predicted going all the way back to 1984 (it still doesn’t exist). The IDF and Israeli intelligence has been trumpeting this so called battle plan for years. It’s about as tangible as Casper the Ghost.

  1. @Richard

    “…Iranians retort that Iran has no such history of invading its neighbors.”

    I don’t claim to be an expert on Persian history, but Eisenkot is no expert either.
    Eisenkot failed to note the invasions launched by the Persian king, Shah Nader, whose armies invaded India in 1739, capturing the Mughal capital, Delhi.

    Shah Nader, was nicknamed the ‘Second Alexander’, for his far-flung invasions of, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the North Caucasus, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Pakistan, Oman and the Persian Gulf.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nader_Shah%27s_invasion_of_the_Mughal_Empire

    Am I wrong, Richard?

      1. @ Arik Levi: Comment Rule #1 as far as you’re concerned: respond to my claims using my terms and don’t substitute your own. Eisenkot said Iran had not initiated a war in 1,400 years (I’ve generally heard the number 300 years). Neither Eisenkot nor I ever said Iran had not responded to wars declared against it. So of course Iran has responded defensively when attacked, and thus been ‘involved’ in many wars it did not initiate.

        Israel in the past 70 years has launched almost every war in which it has been involved. Only one major war can reasonably be called defensive in nature–and that war only occurred because Israel refused to negotiate the return of the Sinai to Egypt. So I’ll take Iran’s record over Israel’s any day of the week when it comes to destructive, aggressive behavior against neighbor states.

    1. @ Fast Lane:

      I don’t claim to be an expert on Persian history, but Eisenkot is no expert either.

      Actually, the first part of that statement is clearly true. The second, not so much. If I were the chief of staff of a major military force I’d make sure I knew everything there was to know about the military history of one of my country’s prime rivals or enemies. So I’d bet Eisenkot, who I’m sure isn’t a shirker when it comes to doing his homework, knows quite a bit about Iran.

      I don’t know enough about Iranian history myself to speak on this subject, but I’ll find someone who can. In the meantime, I don’t trust anything you say unless it’s confirmed by a trustworthy source, including concerning Iranian/Persian history.

      The historical figure I have always heard was that Iran has not engaged in any invasion against a neighbor in 300 years. That would take us back to Shah Nader’s time. So whether the time frame is 300 years or 1,400 years is immaterial to me. I can’t name an existing major nation in the world which has only reacted defensively to invasions against it, and never attacked anyone pre-emptively in 300 years. That’s an amazing record.

      1. @Richard

        What you, me, and Eisenkot don’t know about Persian military history is considerable.

        Less then two hundred years ago, Crown Prince Abbas Mirza of Persia, at the instigation of the Russian Empire, invaded Western Armenia and the areas surrounding Iranian Azerbaijan.
        See, Tucker, Spencer C., ed. (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle. Page 1140.

        As far as Hezbollah’s war plan, Nasrullah has told the press that,”Hezbollah is ready and prepared for a confrontation in the Galilee and beyond the Galilee,””

        https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4615503,00.html

          1. @Peter Dahu

            You read to read in depth.

            Nasrullah also said, “”I’m telling the fighters of the Islamic resistance: Be ready for the day, should war be forced upon Lebanon, where the resistance’s leadership will ask you to take over the Galilee.”

            ‘Take over the Galilee’.

            Pretty clear. no?

          2. @ Fast Lane: Isn’t it interesting how you take the words of Israeli enemies at face value. But you ignore equally troubling statements made by Israeli generals and pols who know even less what they’re talking about in terms of what Israel’s actual capabilities are.

            Do you really think any Lebanese is going to be deterred by Israeli threats? Israel tried to level Lebanon in 2006 and guess what happened? It rebuilt. Hezbollah is now many times stronger than it was in 2006. That’s all thanks to your idiot politicians and generals who went to war and gained nothing by doing so. Except that they discovered that Hezbollah could beat their asses in ways they had no idea they could.

        1. @ Fast Lane: Clear as mud. I don’t care whether Nasrallah said Hezbollah was going to conquer the Galilee, Tel Aviv or Venus. He can say whatever he wants. Words are cheap. Bennett just warned Israel would bomb Lebanon back to the Stone Age. IDF generals have repeated the same bullshit before. It means nothing.

          And if you believe that a modest Islamist militia can invade and conquer the northern half of a country with the 10th or 11th most powerful army in the world, either you have a terrible military or you’re delusional (or both).

  2. I have always felt that the anti Iran fear mongering was and is just that. But Netanyahu has made Iran into an enemy that people in Israel believe discounting Israeli threats.

  3. The gist of what General Eisenkot said is correct: Iran is not an aggressor. Eisenkot himself is careful: He uses “pre-emptive attack”, which is important.

    Iran has been invaded and occupied so many times, even over the past 200 years, and major parts of what used to be Iran up until 1913 were separated from Iran by force. During WWI Britain and Russia had troops in Iran and had divided it into “spheres of influence” for themselves. Iran was invaded during WWII. With direct encouragement and support of the US Iraq invaded Iran in 1980. US and NATO attacked Iran in 1988 in the Persian Gulf, destroying Iran’s offshore oil fields, and shut down Iran’s passenger aircraft, killing 290 people.

    In addition, Russia fought two major wars with Iran in the early 1800 and separated a major part of Iran in the Caucasus, which are now Georgia and Azerbaijan. The British separated Afghanistan from Iran by force too.

    Those who mention Nader Shah’s attack on India do not mention what provoked that attack and the reason for it. This was in fact the continuation of the attacks on Iran during the last king of the Safavid dynasty.After the invaders who had come from Afghanistan and farther east were expelled from Iran, many of them took refuge in India. Nader Shah asked the Indian King to extradite them for what they done, but he refused.

    Finally, Hezbollah is an ally of Iran that receives support from it. But, Hezbollah is also a major player in Lebanon: in its parliament, its government, its political groups, etc. To call it “Iran’s proxy” simplifies the complex relation grossly. But, even if the claim is true, were the Maronite groups – the Lebanese Forces, Tigers Militia, and Guardian of the Cedars militia not Israel’s proxies? Who armed them? How about the “South Lebanon Army,” of Saad Haddad and Antoine Lahad? They were not just proxies, but puppets of Israel.

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