Is Israel taunting Iran to outright war?

As of today it would seem that Israel, led by Netanjahu, have no ionterest in a ceasefire over the Hezbolah attacks.

The British Government has told UK citizens who are in Lebanon to get out. Troops have been sent to Cyprus to aid with any form of evacuation should it be necessary.

I assume that the UK Government has more information than we earthlings even if we do read the Times, the Telegrapph and the Guardian. So it is our guess that it is beliueved that Israel will march into Lebanon and possibly even attack Beirut. After all parts of the city are supposedly full of Hezbollah fighters and leaders.

The whole middle east situation is really rather weird. Let's consider the combatants. Isarel, we can probably safely assume has no interest in invading or fighting with its neighbours as long as it is left in peace.Various midle east countries have also in recent yaers come to terms with Israel.Qatar, Jordan, Egypt have all been trying to get on with Israel. There has even been talk that Saudi Arabia was warming to a settlement.

The odd man out is Iran. What does Iran dislike about Israel? Is it really just a religious problem?

Wars were usually fought because one side or the other promised itself some sort of advantage. Even if Hitler didn't like the Russians, his real reason for invading and getting as far as Stalingrad was to have access to and control, the oil fields in southern Russia.

What advantage, one must ask, would Iran have by destroying Israel?

It would seem entirely irrational for Iran to waste its resources and people in a full scale war with Israel.

In the last few days, since the situation in southern Lebanon started to get out of hand, there has been much talk of the fear of escalation but at least today signs are that Iran will not get directly involved. Supposedly they have even told the Hezbollah not to use the long range missiles that they had supplied.

An important aspct must be Israel's fear that Iran might eventually manage to build or purchase an atom bomb. After all you might not need too many. Some observers have stated it is not a matter of if the Iranians get a nuclear weapon but rather when they might get it.

So it might seem logical that Israel has decided not to wait for this to happen.After all there is no guarantee that Iran won't use it. So maybe, just maybe, Israel is hoping for an all out war with Iran to put an end, for the foreseeable future to this fear.

It would seem unlikely that Israel would attack Iran on a large scale without there being a very real and immediate threat. They probaly feel they need a good excuse to put forward to their American allies.

If they can taunt the Iranians into action, for example because Iran at some point realises it must actively intervene to prevent Beirut being demolished, then it could give Israel the excuse it needs to wipe out Iran or at least damage its forces to such a degree that it will take them many years to recover by which time one might hope that the Mullahs have been replace by a democratic system.