To Israel, as the world waits for its next move

Chris Hughes heads to Israel, believing an attack is likely and a war is possible

Hello and welcome to Hostile World with Chris Hughes, a weekly newsletter about the world of defence and geopolitics. You can subscribe here and follow me on Twitter @defencechris. Thank you!

A missile is launched during a drill in southern Iran (Photo: Iranian Army via AP)

By the time you read this I will have landed in Israel, or war has broken out and we’ve been turned back, or our flight has been diverted.

But it is likely we will land in Tel Aviv and be able to report on the immediate Iranian reaction, if indeed there is one.

Without sitting inside the Israel war cabinet we cannot possibly know what is planned so we took a chance as the diplomatic ping-pong of no-war pleas continues.

All signs so far indicate we land in time to cover what could turn out to be the most significant decision an Israeli Prime Minister has made in years.

And Benjamin Netanyahu has not been erring on the side of caution to say the least.

I believe an attack is likely and a war is possible. 

Chris Hughes in Sderot, in October 2023, with the border between Israel and Gaza in the backgound (Photo: Rowan Griffiths)

Israel has been mulling over how to react to the Iranian drone and missile attack this week, which followed an airstrike that killed 13, including two Tehran generals, in Syria.

We knew it was going to happen, we said it was going to happen in last week’s newsletter and it was probably the most telegraphed and significant single Middle Eastern attack in decades.