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Israel’s Air Force regularly trains for attacking Iran. I’ve written several posts about previous war games exercises in Greece and Romania. The latter in 2004 ended in a helicopter crash during an exercise in which the IAF was simulating flight and landings at very high altitude. This type of operation might be necessary to rescue an Israeli pilot shot down over Iran’s mountainous terrain.

For some reason, the IAF switched partners, dropping Romania and taking up with Greece. It’s quite convenient for Greece since it’s been flirting with bankruptcy for several years and Israel must offer lucrative financial incentives for that country to host the exercise. It should also be remembered that the last Gaza flotilla was docked in Greece when port authorities prevented the ship from sailing. That was mighty convenient for the Mossad, which was doing its best to prevent the sailings in whatever way it could, including overt sabotage. Not to mention that with increasing enmity between Israel and Turkey (with which Israel once had a warm military relationship), Greece is an obvious choice to replace the Turks.

In 2010, the IAF trained with the Greek air force, simulating an attack on Iran. The military censor rather lamely excised any reference to Iran from Israeli media coverage. However, Palestine’s independent Maan managed to expose the truth in its headline.

Now, Israel is once again training in Greece to attack Iran. The Greek article doesn’t specify the purpose of the exercise, but the Israel Broadcasting Authority does:

The air force has been training for years for such a [long-range] attack and the target they’re simulating is Iran.

Met w/ #imposed Iraq-Iran war veterans & their families. Words cannot describe the #respect I have for these #heroes pic.twitter.com/ELNqn5JTQL — Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) October 10, 2013



There’s even a Maariv headline from one of Bibi’s trusted henchman, convicted perjurer, MK Tzachi Ha’Negbi, who says there must be an attack on Iran. This gets old and stale rather fast.

I do so love it when right-wing commenters here state with utmost innocence that Israel never threatens Iran as Iran’s leaders supposedly threaten Israel. Never happened, right? How do they explain these incendiary comments from a prominent Likud MK and powerful insider?

The only reason I’ve written this is to point out how lame Bibi’s threats have become. He has no leverage. He doesn’t scare the Iranians and he has almost no impact on the deliberations about Iran-U.S. rapprochement. He’s lost his juice. He’s forced to resort to putting his fixers in front of the media to make him look tough. For a guy like Bibi, used to playing big hands in high stakes poker, that’s got to hurt.

While I’m not fool enough to believe that Hassan Rouhani is a Boy Scout, take a look at the accompanying photo and try to imagine Bibi Netanyahu making such a visit to a former IDF soldier crippled for life in a past Israeli war. He doesn’t have the empathy to do it.