“I’m willing to take a personal risk and we need to do the right thing, because history will judge us”

Respect. Also glad that Europeans have found another 7 Patriots.

Encouraging tidbit of news.

Foreign policy vision from UK Labour’s shadow foreign secretary. Full of pre-election partisan jabs, but basically a sensible strategy. Though my eyes roll at the “progressive realism” label – two essentially meaningless words smushed together. Oh well. foreignaffairs.com/united-kingdom…

Australia’s new defence policy out today. For comparison, defence spending will hit 2.4% of GDP within 10 years (currently 2.04% this FY). #DPU
can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%…

Aukus is gathering momentum and adherents
on.ft.com/446BKSE

I regret the tone of a tweet I wrote earlier this evening, so I deleted it. But its main message stands: it’s not okay for a Member of Parliament to accuse another Jewish MP of betraying her community. That kind of allegation leads only to bad places.

Indeed. Whatever message Iran may have intended, the message they actually communicated was one of reckless escalation.

Good summary here from one of the sharpest observers of the region.

I will be fascinated to find out what Lantsman means by 'your community' to another Jewish MP here.

The obvious and easy thing to do if your country is attacked is to hit back - a lot harder. The difficult thing in the heat of the moment is to think two, three, four steps ahead.

I see no evidence that Iran was trying to draw Israel into a larger war, but that’s what tonight’s direct attack on Israel could yield. Right now, Iran’s strike looks like a case of failed signalling – a military strike that actually sent a message of escalation, not tit-for-tat.

The role of Arab neighbours, in particular, helping to defend Israel will be an interesting story when it’s told.

History.
#Jerusalem .

👇

One message I expect and hope western governments will send to Prime Minister Netanyahu is not to make any precipitous decisions in response to Iran’s attack, which he may be inclined to do. Take the time to consider options and risks of an uncontrolled escalation.