This morning at 5.53am, air raid sirens sounded across Tel Aviv. War-weary locals largely went about their business as usual unfazed by the eerie wail, while out of towners headed at speed to the nearest bomb shelter. The ballistic missile was fired from Yemen and intercepted by the IDF. 

At 7.02am, again, mobile phones buzzed with warnings to take shelter. Iran had fired a barrage of ballistic missiles. The beach volleyball game being played outside my hotel didn’t stop. The missiles “disintegrated” or fell harmlessly. 

Israelis hardly batted an eyelid, yet regional experts say that this is now the start of a new war between Israel and Iran, the third of the year. And the latest round of tit-for-tat attacks will certainly be felt in Washington DC. 

America First foreign policy and Israeli foreign policy were always uncomfortable bedfellows

America First foreign policy and Israeli foreign policy were always uncomfortable bedfellows

The salvos today were a response to overnight bombing of Iran by Israel, which in itself was a response to Iranian attacks on Israel last night. A barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles was intercepted in the north of Israel last night, in the first serious breach of the ceasefire that was struck in April.

After the attack, Trump, fearing that Israel would respond and push his germinal peace deal further off the rails, said he would order Benjamin Netanyahu not to respond. He said that Netanyahu would have no choice but to accept the deal that he is negotiating with Iran.

Trump said: “He won’t have any choice. I........

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