US offering Israel ‘compensation’ for partially sparing Iran – media

The US is reportedly asking Israel to refrain from hitting certain targets in its expected reprisal for last week’s missile strike by Iran, the Israeli TV channel Kan11 claimed on Sunday.

Tehran fired over 180 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel last Tuesday, calling the barrage its reaction to the assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Iranian move a “big mistake.”

American officials are offering Israel a “compensation package” for refraining from attacks on specific locations in Iran, the channel said. The payoff would include “diplomatic protection” and more weapons, its reporter Amichai Stein stated, citing US sources.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told CNN on Sunday that “everything is on the table” in terms of the selection of targets, commenting on a public call by US President Joe Biden not to attack Iranian nuclear and oil facilities.

The US is a major source of military assistance to Israel and has shielded it from criticism on the international stage, including by using its veto in the UN Security Council. The Biden administration has largely ignored pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses this year demanding that it withhold further aid.

Monday marks the first anniversary of the October 7 raid into southern Israel by the Gaza-based militant movement Hamas, which claimed some 1,200 lives. Israel responded to the unprecedented security breach with a siege of the Palestinian enclave, resulting in the deaths of at least 41,000 people according to local authorities and widespread devastation.

Last month, Israel also launched a sabotage and bombing campaign to crush the militant organization Hezbollah in Lebanon. It has been followed up with what West Jerusalem characterizes as a “limited” ground incursion. Over 2,000 lives have been lost in Lebanon due to the surge in violence.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has called on the “civilized world” to oppose the “barbarism” of Iran and its proxies and to stand with his country. He chastised France’s Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, labeling as “a disgrace” the president’s comments that Western nations ought to “stop delivering arms for fighting in Gaza” and that Lebanon was at risk of being turned into “a new Gaza.”