ANDREW NEIL: If 300 missiles and drones hit Britain, would we be sitting on our ... trends now
Within hours of Iran's mass missile and drone attack on Israel overnight on Saturday, the consensus of the global commentariat forming in newspapers and TV channels was that Israel should refrain from retaliation.
Many political leaders, especially those always quick to tell Israel what it should do when attacked, echoed the need for restraint. It is quite remarkable advice for a country which has just been the target of more than 150 Iranian drones armed with explosives, around 30 cruise missiles and about 120 ballistic missiles.
If so many weapons of destruction had rained down on Britain, would we be listening to those urging caution, nodding thoughtfully at such sage advice and agreeing that it would probably be best for all concerned if we just sat on our hands? I suggest that any UK government which went along with that would quickly be driven from power.
As we saw with the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands all those years ago, there would be an overwhelming national demand for a robust response to show we cannot be attacked with impunity — and that those who think they can should pay a terrible price. We'd expect our allies to stand alongside us, offering every possible assistance. So nobody should be surprised if that's also the mood today in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making a phone call to US President Joe Biden after the drone attacks
Rocket trails in the sky above the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, Israel
Yes, the Iranian attack was limited, it seems, to Israeli military targets and, despite its massive scale, looks like it has done little damage, with no loss of life. But that is only thanks to the excellence of Israel's missile-defence systems: not just its fabled Iron Dome, which has done such sterling work taking out short-range rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza and Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, but, more important in this latest attack, its newer Arrow 3, a top-tier system that can destroy incoming ballistic missiles.
Israel has developed this with America's Boeing corporation and it proved its worth on Saturday night. Germany is buying a version in a $3.5 billion (£2.8 billion) deal to improve its own security (we should consider doing the same). That's what saved Israel at the weekend. It's clear that Iran, by sending so many drones and missiles at once, hoped to overwhelm Israel's defences. That it failed should not be a factor in determining Israel's response.
The Israelis are more likely to focus on Iranian intent rather than the (thankfully) pathetic outcome of its efforts. You do not launch 300 missiles and drones on another country unless you're aiming to cause a lot of death and destruction.
It is being said that the attack was only in response to Israel's bombing of an Iranian 'diplomatic mission' in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which housed an important command centre of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Seven commanders and military personnel, including the most senior general, were killed in the attack.
Tehran says it 'deems' its assault on Israel to be over. One of its top generals says it has 'no intention to continue the operation', which he claimed had been a 'full success' (and which makes you wonder what failure would look like). So Israel should just move on.
But should it? For a start, this was the first attack on Israel launched from Iranian soil. That alone represents a major escalation of hostilities. Hitherto, Iran has worked through its regional proxies to undermine Israel and spread misery across the Middle East. Now, it has attacked Israel directly from its own territory. That is reason enough why Israel can hardly look the other way.
Moreover, the command centre that Israel hit in Damascus was a major base for the IRGC's Quds Force, which arms, trains and finances Iran's proxy militia across the region, including Hamas and Hezbollah, which have brought so much misery to Israel.
The general killed was a pivotal link with the proxies. So it was a legitimate target.
It is important to understand the wider picture. The Islamic Republic of Iran aims to be the superpower of the Middle East but it is a Persian-speaking, Shiite nation in an overwhelmingly Sunni part of the Muslim Arab world. So it has sought to establish its suzerainty by, first, taking the most extreme positions against
