Dennis Ross: Israel should have B52s

Dennis Ross wants to give B52 bombers for Israel and it is a great idea but has its flaws as reported by DefenseNews.com.  The problems are that the B52 would be vulnerable to Iranian S300s provided by Russia and Russia could always sell Iran more according to Retired IAF Major General Eitan Ben-Eliahu who also opined that a B-2 would have stealth capability and implied these might hold up against S300s better.   Another retired Major General, Giora Romm, thought giving B52s would be like US giving Israel a pair of shoes that are several sizes too large.

Israel needs to develop a long range bombing capacity and perhaps Israel and US could agree that the bombers would only be used in the instance of a breach of the nuclear agreement by Iran.  The problems as I see them is Israel will have to train with the bomber by flying over neighboring countries even if it also trains in the US and Israel will want and need to use the bombers in the next conflict is has. Most of Israel’s enemies are Iran backed, a containment strategy against Iran will eventually necessitate destroying Tehran’s proxies in Gaza and Lebanon. If Israel can create the infrastructure to support a long range bomber and really it will also need to improve its navy and refueling capabilities to help support long range bombers then this idea does have some merit. Even if it doesn’t work out, Ross has demonstrated there may be imaginative solutions to Iran having nuclear missiles in 10-20 years. An Israel with a long range bomber could be a game changer in the war against ISIS too. 

A potentially alternate solution is simply to have Israel join NATO but Turkey will object. Giving Erdogan the opportunity to either alienate himself further from NATO or to get on board is not a bad thing and may be just what NATO needs in addition to a formal and productive relationship with Jerusalem.