Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is currently convening the cabinet for the management of the war, in Kirya in Tel Aviv/Government Press Office
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a meeting of leaders of Jewish-American organizations today (Tuesday) that an escalation with Iran would not serve the interests of Israel or the US - according to three sources who participated in the meeting.
why is it important
The Biden administration and some of Israel's other allies in the West are encouraging it in private conversations and in public not to react quickly and extensively to the unprecedented missile and UAV attack that Iran launched on Saturday.
The assessment in the US is that Iran will respond to any significant and visible Israeli attack on its territory and launch another barrage of missiles and UAVs, said a senior American.
"We think it will be very difficult to repeat the tremendous success we had in repelling the attack on Saturday, if Iran launches hundreds of missiles and UAVs again and the Israelis know it," said a second senior American official.
Behind the Scenes
During the meeting with the Jewish leaders, Blinken said that in the talks with Israel in the last two days about the response to the Iranian attack, he emphasized that "strength and reason are two sides of the same coin" - according to three sources who participated in the meeting.
A source who attended the meeting said that Blinken did not say that Israel should refrain from reacting and emphasized that it was Israel's decision what to do.
"We will never tell Israel what to do. We are just giving the Israelis the best advice we can," Blinken said according to two officials who attended the meeting.
One of the sources who participated in the meeting said that Blinken's message to Israel was: "Be smart, act strategically and act as limited as possible."
Two participants in the meeting noted that Blinken claimed that Hamas may have rejected the hostage deal because it thought an Iranian attack would lead to a regional war. He added that if Hamas sees that the situation has not deteriorated into a regional war, it will be under renewed pressure to advance a deal to release the abductees.
Blinken told the Jewish leaders that the fact that Jordan and Saudi Arabia took part in the defensive effort to repel the Iranian attack was very important and opens up opportunities for the future - according to two sources who participated in the meeting.
the situation picture
Blinken spoke on the phone on Monday with Minister Benny Gantz and gave him a similar message regarding the Israeli response to the Iranian attack - so said two sources privy to the details.
The US State Department and Gantz's office did not publish the existence of the conversation and refused to comment on the matter.
However, Gantz said today during a conference of the newspaper "Israel Hayom" that he had spoken in the last day with senior officials of the American administration about the need to promote additional international sanctions against Iran and emphasized that the promotion of the normalization processes between Israel and the Arab countries will serve the fight against Iran.
"Israel will act out of strategic wisdom, and will respond where, when and in the manner it chooses. And this is not the place to expand," Gantz said.
The conversation between Blinken and Gantz was just part of a series of conversations between senior American and Israeli officials over the past two days to consult on the nature and scope of the response to the Iranian attack.
Last night US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin spoke with Defense Minister Yoav Galant. This was the fourth conversation between the two since the Iranian attack on Saturday. The Pentagon said that Austin told Gallant that the strategic goal of the US and Israel should be to maintain stability in the region.