Richard Silverstein
Aug 7, 2012

Former Labor party minister, Uzi Baram, wrote a column in Yisrael HaYom today that urges Israel’s leadership to tell the people clearly what lies in store when they execute an expected attack on Iran. What is most striking about the article is this:

Recently, I’ve come to believe that the leaders of the State have decided to act [attack Iran].

A trusted Israeli source tells me that Baram learned this from none other than a close confidant of Ehud Barak. In other words, Barak has begun to tell his closest friends that Israel is going to war. Before hearing this, I thought chances of an Israeli attack were 70-30. Now I believe they are 85-15.

Another interesting focus of Baram’s article is the economic fallout that such an attack will generate. Though he speaks in terms familiar to anyone who’s read Meir Dagan’s warnings on this subject, the columnist focuses specifically on economic issues. He warns a strike will bring an end to international investment in Israeli business and a halt to the flourishing tourism industry:

Every Israeli citizen should know that what has been will not be in the future…It will mean the end of today’s Israel.

…It’s no secret what will happen. If we attack, the Iranians will respond in kind. The western and Muslim world, including Iran’s allies and enemies, will tighten the “siege belt” around us.

In effect, Baram is warning that a BDS-like state of siege will descend on Israel. It won’t be fueled by moral arguments against Occupation as the current BDS movement is. It will be fueled by an even more potent fuel: outrage at Israel’s aggression against Iran.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/08/07/barak-confi...