TEL AVIV— June 16 was, among other things, “Bloomsday,” celebrated annually. It marks the day in 1904 that the events of Irish novelist James Joyce’s “Ulysses” transpire. That literary landmark’s protagonist is Leopold Bloom, an Irish Jew who wanders Dublin imagining an Israel of “Silver-powdered olive trees. Quiet long days: pruning, ripening. Oranges in tissue paper packed in crates. Citrons too. Crates lined up on the quayside at Jaffa.”
This Bloomsday, with Israel at war, all of Tel Aviv is abuzz with President Trump’s advice for Tehranis to evacuate their city “immediately” — and what it could portend for the course of a war now in its fifth day. Mr. Trump’s decision to leave the G-7 conference early and fly to the District of Columbia has fueled speculation that he could be weighing greater American involvement in the battle against the Islamic Republic.
The president declared on Truth Social on Monday that “Simply stated … IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.” He added that his change of plans “has nothing to do with a Cease Fire” and is “much bigger than that.” Israel’s Channel 14, widely seen to be sympathetic to Prime Minister Netanyahu, reported on Monday that America had decided to join the fight, but a White House deputy communications director, Alex Pfeiffer, insists that “American forces are maintaining their defensive posture and that has not changed. We will defend American interests.”
President Macron, also at the G7, mused in respect of the conflict that “we need to see what the stakeholders will do” and signaled his support for “a ceasefire and to initiate broader discussions.” Mr. Trump, though, denied that on Truth Social, writing “Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire.” Mr. Trump is calling for a “real end” to the war.
The president also took to Truth Social to vent that “somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson” — an isolationist in foreign policy — “that IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.” For that to be assured with some measure of finality, though, it appears likely that the Fordow nuclear site, buried deep underground, would have to be rendered inoperative.
Achieving that objective would likely require a 30,000 pound behemoth and “bunker buster” of a bomb, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. That weapon is so massive that only an American B-2 stealth bomber can deliver it. The Jewish state possesses neither bunker busting bombs nor B-2 bombers, though it has, since this war began, astonished the world with its ingenuity and prowess. Israel has issued its own evacuation orders to Tehran.
Israel has ravaged Iran even without America’s offensive capabilities. On Tuesday morning the Israel Defense Forces announced on X that “For the second time in 5 days— the IDF has eliminated Iran’s War-Time Chief of Staff, the regime’s top military commander. Ali Shadmani, Iran’s senior-most military official and Khamenei’s closest military advisor, was killed… following precise intelligence.”
The dispatch of Shadmani adds to the IDF’s decimation of the Iranian regime’s high military and scientific command, with 11 senior generals now dispatched to their eternal reward. Also on Monday the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, reckoned that Israeli strikes had cut off power to the Natanz uranium enrichment center, likely throwing its centrifuges into disarray. Israel on Monday also struck the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, disrupting it on air.
Mr. Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday that Israel’s fight is also America’s. He contended that “Today, it’s Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it’s New York. Look, I understand ‘America First’. I don’t understand ‘America Dead.’ That’s what these people want. They chant ‘Death to America.’” Mr. Netanyahu also ventured that assassinating Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, is “not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict.” Mr. Trump is reportedly against such a move.
Israelis woke up at around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning to yet another alert of incoming ballistic missiles, though damage from this latest barrage appears minimal. A mere three hours had passed since the last alert, at around 5 a.m. One person in my shelter joked that perhaps we should dispense with pajamas altogether. The barrages, though, appeared more subdued than on previous nights, and the “all clear” was given more quickly than it had been during previous bombardments.
This correspondent did find time between relays to the shelter to observe “Bloomsday.” Not far from Jaffa, I slipped into an Irish pub, “Molly Bloom’s” — the name of Leopold’s wife — for a Guinness. Notwithstanding current tensions between Ireland and Israel, the pub was draped with the Jewish states’ flags and the yellow ribbons signaling support for the hostages in Gaza. I reckon Poldy Bloom would have been happy, if miffed by the missiles.
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