Why Israel Is Unlikely to Attack Iran

The revelation (or non-revelation, at least as far Western intelligence agencies are concerned) of a second Iranian nuclear facility near the city of Qom is of less significance to Israel than one might immediately imagine. If it is to have any impact at all, it is purely in the political realm, and even there it is unlikely to change the current state of strategic thinking in the IDF. While Prime Minister Netanyahu has, according to Haaretz, been lobbying American politicians with the question “If not now, when?” (for those not in the know, this is a famous quote from the ancient rabbinical text Pirkei Avot) and Foreign Minister Lieberman is insisting that the revelation constitutes proof that the Iranian nuclear program is military in nature; neither of these statements has the urgency they appear to display.