The Iran Strikes and World Central Kitchen Deaths Have Felt Like Turning Points—in America. In Israel …

Earlier this month, the world reeled from the death of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza. U.S. President Joe Biden expressed outrage; Secretary of State Antony Blinken threatened a change in policy; and congressional Democrats, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi—hardly a representative of the party’s left flank—urged Biden to halt the transfer of weapons to Israel. But after Iran’s strikes on Israel this weekend—attacks that, per Israeli officials, included more than 300 missiles and drones, and that, per Iran, were a response to the April 1 Israeli attack on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria that killed seven—Biden reaffirmed American support for Israel. However, he also reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States would not back a counterattack against Iran. More broadly, many in the U.S., including in the Biden White House, fear that further escalation could turn into a wider regional conflict.

In Israel, meanwhile, these two strikes made headlines, seized public attention, and generated debate and discussion, but the conclusions drawn were—and are—quite different from what they’ve been here in America. In both instances, the Israeli public’s reaction wasn’t much changed from where they stood beforehand on the war, the government, and the military. Instead, if anything, the past couple of tumultuous weeks have seen Israelis’ priors confirmed as much as they have been challenged.

“This is not the thing that will tip the Israeli public against the war,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israel-based public opinion expert and strategic consultant, of the WCK strikes.

News of that disaster did cut through in Israel. The Israel Defense Forces issued a rare apology and, after an internal investigation, removed two of the officers of the Nahal Brigade, the military unit that ordered the strike. José Andrés, the celebrity chef founder of WCK, went on Israeli TV to tell the Israeli public that they are better than the way this war is being waged.

But if many Israelis’ assurance in their military’s competence was shaken, it was not shattered. And, in any case, reactions to the strikes, and to the government and IDF responses, broke down along familiar political lines, confirming preexisting opinions more than changing them.

For example,........

© Slate

visit website