Bolton criticizes Biden for putting “enormous pressure” on Israel not to “do more” to Iran

Former national security adviser John Bolton criticized President Biden for putting “tremendous pressure” on Israel not to “do more” to Iran on Friday after the country launched retaliatory strikes against Israel following an attack earlier this month in Syria.

On Friday, the Israeli military attacked near a major air base and nuclear facility in Iran. The attack appeared to be a response to drone and missile attacks that occurred last weekend.

“I think what Israel did, as far as it went, was good,” Bolton said Friday on the “Cats & Cosby” radio show, hosted by John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby. “I think they were under enormous pressure, I mean enormous pressure, from the Biden administration not to do more, and I can understand that, it’s a difficult position to be in.”

“But even within the war cabinet in Israel, people believe that opposition leader Benny Gantz wanted to go further,” he continued. “And I think they should have done that. I think Iran was very, very lucky here.”

Although Israeli authorities had previously threatened a strong response to Iran’s recent attack, this was relatively small. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even warned that “[t]The State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself” at a meeting of its Cabinet.

Analysts said Israel’s relatively meager response was based on trying to prevent the current conflict between Middle Eastern nations from escalating further.

“The goal was to restore deterrence and discourage any further Iranian attacks on the Israeli homeland,” wrote Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. “But the Israeli action was also calibrated to facilitate Iran’s non-response. The Israeli government is not trumpeting what happened.”

In an interview with NBC News on Friday night, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian questioned Israel’s role in the incident, saying the military has no proof it was behind the attack. He also noted that while Iran did not retaliate for Friday’s attack, it will take action if it happens again.