Name? Naftali Bennett
Westphalian identity? Israeli
Age? 48
Why is he in the news? Israel and Iran have been exchanging cyber attacks in a tit for tat manner for the past few weeks. Iran started out with a cyber attack on water systems in Israel, to which Naftali Bennett (Israel’s defence minister) retaliated with an attack on Iran’s Shahid Rajaee harbour. Today, multiple Israeli websites were hacked, displaying a message describing the complete destruction of the State of Israel.
Why do we care? Some of us (one of us) had classes interrupted because of Iranian cyber attacks. Good job Iran, now you are targeting our education. But apart from this, engaging in a tit for tat strategy usually results in a downward spiral, leading to an escalation of conflict. Israeli security forces are carefully anticipating Iran’s Quds’ day which has been traditionally celebrated with death to America rhetorics.
Why should you care? Whenever these two countries are going at each other, the world instantly gets involved. Especially given that today’s attacks on Israeli websites were not exercises by the Revolutionary Guards (opposed to the water system attack), but rather, by Iran-friendly autonomous groups operating from the North of Africa. This regional conflict has global implications and it won’t be long until your country has to pick sides.
Who else cares? Let us mix things up and ask the opposite question once, who does not care? Another one of Israel’s enemies is Saudi Arabia. That said, we have not heard of any tensions between Saudi Arabia and Israel for three years now. Since the start of MBS’ dream project, NEOM2030 (which is very close to Israel’s territory), they have decreased their anti-Israel activities in exchange for their own economic interest.
Any further comments? The timing of these attacks has not been a coincidence. Iran has managed to flatten the curve in terms of Covid-19 cases and Israel is still transitioning governments. As such, the Revolutionary Forces made this out to be times of vulnerability for Israel. Naftali Bennett, outgoing minister, wanted to make a statement in initiating a strong tit for tat.
