Former Trump aide warned of 'existential' Hezbollah threat to Israel
Israeli officials and defense contractors privately acknowledge that a
war with Hezbollah would likely lead to an overwhelming and indefensible
barrage of rocket fire deep into the country.
By Michael Wilner
A former senior adviser on Middle East policy to US President Donald
Trump was preoccupied by the growth of Hezbollah and the threat it poses
to Israel, according to Bob Woodward, a veteran journalist out with a
new book this week on the Trump White House.
The official, Derek Harvey, reportedly brought his concerns to Jared
Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser tasked with
jump-starting the Middle East peace process.
“Harvey’s number-one worry in the Middle East was Hezbollah,” according
to Woodward, who notes of Hezbollah's massive stockpile of
precision-guided rockets amassed since its 2006 war with Israel and
provided by Tehran. Should war break out, Harvey warned that Israel's
airfields would be targeted, and that “Israel’s defenses of Iron Dome,
David’s Sling and Arrow missiles would be inadequate” defenses.
Israeli officials and defense contractors, which provide batteries for
the missile defense systems, privately acknowledge that a war with
Hezbollah would likely lead to an overwhelming and indefensible barrage
of rocket fire deep into the country. Such a war would therefore ramp up
quickly, they say, so that Israel could destroy as much of Hezbollah's
stockpile as quickly as possible.
Harvey was convinced that level of violence and destruction in such a
conflict would existentially challenge Israel, potentially compelling US
forces to intervene. “An Iranian-Israeli conflict would draw in the
United States and unhinge efforts to bring regional stability,” Woodward
writes.
Harvey left the White House in the summer of 2017.
Woodward's book, Fear: Trump in the White House, catalogues the first two chaotic years of the Trump administration.
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