“February’s Knesset elections,” said Bantz Craddock last week, “were unable to provide an unequivocal diplomatic mandate for a new government in Israel.” Gen. Craddock is NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe. He is interested in Israeli policy and the extent of public support for the government because, as he said in testimony to Congress, the ongoing conflict between Israel and the various Palestinian groups perpetuates regional instability. The possibility of an Israeli attack against a nuclear Iran, which will result in Iran and Hezbollah making good on their threats to attack American assets in response, will be a test of the willingness of NATO’s member states to implement Article 5 of the treaty’s convention and assist in the American defense (in other words, the counterattack)
