and in response to that america would organize recognition by saudi arabia of israel, and one assumes that if they normalize relations in israel, other countries in the region would follow, what you make of that? >> if the biden administration could get the israelis-- the israeli government to support a palestinian state and do something to show that it was serious about it, yes, i think that would be a big deal. the problem is that i think israel's government would probably fall if benjamin netnyahu tried to do this. netnyahu, kind of a career long hostility to palestinian statehood, the far right parties and his government are even more emphatically opposed to a palestinian state. and netnyahu has posed himself as the guy who is in office to prevent the creation of a palestinian state, so it is an appealing idea, but i'm not sure biden will be able to get this israeli government go for it.
have the arab countries somewhere in the middle and we end up in a really, really bad situation. >> well, i think that is an excellent historical connection to make. july 1914, and a world dragged into one of the bloodiest conflict in history, it could turn out, obviously, that that idf strike on the damascus embassy in iran, that killed senior quds leaders, a dozen of them killed, it could ignite a similar, widespread regional war in the middle east. i must admit though, i am enormously encouraged by richard engel reporting on the ground, which i have been trying to follow on google, with al jazeera, and the iranian press, they are clearly playing down the israeli impact, denying it even occurred, minimizing it import. so, tomorrow, what we will
the iranians are sort of saying there was an attack and every body seems to be downplaying the whole operation, what you believe you know? >> you know, i think that is the key here, ali, the language being used on all sizes fairly restrained. and very limited. and it is early, it is fluid, but that might be a cause for some cautious optimism that this situation is not going to spiral and escalate dramatically, but it is still-- we are still in the early moments here, but the fact that, now several hours have passed, if you don't hear the iranian government saying that there are casualties, that there is terribly a large-scale attack that has been conducted, and you don't hear israel boasting about some kind of large-scale attack, either they are describing it as a limited operation, and we are just see this video now for the first time, it doesn't tell us a lot, right? so, it may be quite limited, quite small-scale, in which case, that might leave
israelis have acted in the past, that will give us a good idea. they don't want a full-scale-- and they also have a legitimate grievances that can be resolved politically. they are not irrational actors. they have legitimate grievances. the central element in this question, which hasn't been mentioned much in the coverage i have watched on many american tv stations is this question of palestine, because this really started with gaza. >> palestine is off the table at the moment, but that is netnyahu's whole thing, he's been doing that for 15 years. the questions of palestine in the minds of israelis is off the table, because the question of iran was central. benjamin netanyahu exists politically, because of the threat of iran, this has, for better or worse, played into his hands. >> yes, iran and hezbollah. you mentioned 1914, i thought that was really brilliant.
strategic targets, meaning their nuclear capability. so, it doesn't make much sense, from a national security viewpoint, for either israel or iran want to go unbounded, but tomorrow we have got to hope that u.s. and regional diplomacy walks back the iranian foreign minister's remarks today. and ends this thing where it is. and indeed, maybe get some kind of a dialogue going to reduce what really is a critical crisis. >> i have to ask you something that the cia director said at a speech in dallas, in which he called the iranian attack a spectacular failure. everyone knows what iron dome is capable of, what david's sling is capable of, what the arrow defense systems are capable of, and the fact that iran, israel works with the cooperation of the united states, the united kingdom,
measured, but it is kind of amazing to the rest of us, when we hear about rockets and missiles and things like that. it doesn't seem like measured responses, but this may be the iranian-israeli version of measured responses. dan, i always rely so heavily on your analysis, thank you for being with us tonight, dan deluce, joining us now is robert curry, investigator and journalism at the university of beirut. i want to go to 50,000 feet on this, and discuss a number of things that have been in play in the last week or so. number one, the americans had a firm conversation, with israel, and said, don't do this. don't-- don't retaliate in any meaningful way. number two, there is reporting that we do not have, but the wall street journal has, that says that america has said to israel, if you recognize the palestinian state and accept a two state solution, we will reward you by giving you normalized relations with saudi arabia, which could be followed by other normalization with
it needed to do, but not in a way that was going to explode the situation beyond where it already is. >> it is so interesting you referenced that reporting from the journal, allie, because i am thinking back to just my recent travel with the president in india, in september, before, of course, it took that horrific attack by hamas into israel. the highest levels of the biden administration was talking and very optimistic language about serious progress they felt, toward a game changer in the middle east. the potential for that kind of recognition for israel, by some of its neighbors in the region, who obviously have not had the relations with israel, directly. in return for exactly that. the president's one goal of finally seeing through a two state solution, in which some of our partners in the region up to play a major role. that was something that was-- the administrator felt very confident about, because of some of the economic deals that
organizations that had separate suspended flight from iran announced that flights have resumed, the situation is normal, no restrictions on domestic or international flights, richard engel saying no movement on iran, other than those by the u.s. embassy and personnel. you said something a couple of hours ago, barry, that i caught, and it was talking about taking over those commanders in damascus. and you are saying israel is good at this. israel can assassinate people around the world. ronan bergman has talked about some of the most strategic assassinations that israel has undertaken, but that does not take up capability. he was a brilliant strategist who he took out and that probably did affect the revolutionary guard in its operations, in syria a lot. but this is and that. so, everything that has happened in the last few weeks has not been what you would normally see, between two countries who are looking to go to war with one another. >> by the way, the murder of general solo money on the back
public comment that we have had from any senior u.s. official, and he was speaking at an event in dallas, the george w. bush presidential center. at first he her referred to iran's attack over the weekend as a spectacular failure. he said it spoke to the high quality of the israeli military, but also to the fact that israel has a lot of friends. we know, of course, the role of u.s. and some of our other regional allies played in deterring, and making sure that those attacks were not successful in getting into an israeli airspace. but it also was notable that he said, we know at this moment that israel is considering how to respond, and the bright hope within the administration is that there is a moment to de- escalate the situation. the message from the white house, from the president directly to prime minister, benjamin netanyahu over the weekend was take the win. you have shown your strength here in this moment and not risk any further escalation. you could look at what israel has potentially done here tonight as a moment, where iran's attack, to quote bill
their capabilities. >> the last facility i can remember was in iraq. after that, israel was mightily empowered and would like to have attacked the nuclear facilities, in iran, but were dissuaded from doing so by the united states. they were told, don't do it, and they have not. they have regretted that over a long period of time, but at the end of the day, israel has almost undoubtedly not been attacking any of those facilities and they do not need united states to tell them not to. >> good to see you, thank you. it's been a long day. appreciate it. colonel jack jacobs. live coverage continues after this break. .