Israelis Likely Want U.S. to go to War With Iran, Mearsheimer Says

Professor says he believes the Israeli view, deep down, "is that the bigger the war is, the greater the opportunity for ethnic cleansing… not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank as well"

Professor John Mearsheimer said in an interview published Wednesday that Israel is “basically out of control” and its escalatory strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria is likely an effort to force Iran’s hand to respond and drag the U.S. into war with Tehran.

“I think when you marry this (the strike in Syria), with what happened in regard to what happened with the humanitarian food aid convoy in Gaza, you see there is really no limits to what the Israelis will do. They think they’re pretty much free to do whatever they want,” he told Glenn Greenwald’s “System Update.”

He continued, “The Iranians do not want to war with the United States. They've been trying to avoid a war with the United States. They've gone to great lengths to communicate to us that they don't want a war. Of course, we don't want to war with them either. When we first put those two aircraft carriers and those other naval ships in the Mediterranean Sea, it was not so much protect Israel… I mean there was some of that at play — but it was mainly to make sure that the war didn’t escalate, and we didn't get dragged in. We don't want to get dragged into any wars in the Middle East.”

He continued: “I think these Israelis would like to get us into a war with Iran, but I don't think the Israelis would mind at all they got into a war with Hezbollah.”

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He said he believes Israel tried to pick a fight with Hezbollah — “not only to punish Hezbollah, but I think they saw as an opportunity to do ethnic cleansing on the West Bank. I think the Israeli view, deep down, is that the bigger the war is, the greater the opportunity for ethnic cleansing… not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank as well.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Wednesday, “After repeated defeats and failures in the face of the faith and will of the Resistance Front fighters, the Zionist regime has put indiscriminate assassinations on its agenda in the struggle to save itself, but it should know that it will never achieve its sinister goals with such inhumane actions.”