“Decision time for Binyamin Netanyahu is drawing very near. When he was asked by an Israeli journalist recently when he might decide on how to respond to the Iranian nuclear threat, he intoned that it was not a matter of weeks but neither was it a matter of years.

Implicit was a clear indication that the Israeli Prime Minister is confident that there is a viable, effective military capability that could be employed as a last resort. The price of being found to be bluffing would be so disastrous, nationally and politically, that no Israeli leader can afford to take such a risk.

But rather than focus on how this or that military operation might unfold, we should turn serious attention to the principal, possibly only option, that stands between Israel, Iran and a rapid slide into violent action.”