Israel is an 'annihilatory state.' It does not seek to live alongside its Arab and Persian neighbors as an equal. Rather, it aims to maintain hegemony across the Middle East. At bottom, Israeli atavists don't want educated, erudite neighbors, equals with whom to make magic in the region; they want subjects they can sanction and slaughter into submission. ~ilana

IT'S ABOUT PALESTINE. Of all the known facts about Israel's war of aggression against Iran, now nominally suspended by Trump, this is the most important. Incisively put by Craig Mokhiber, "Iran is the last, independent, frontline state that refuses to submit, to normalize the crimes against the Palestinian people." Quite simply, "Iran was being punished for its support for the Palestinians." If you are free of the prefrontal lobotomy that comes with subscriptions to the Murdoch or Adelson Media; you will grasp this.