When Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi stood in front of the cameras on Aug. 25 and announced that the attempted Iranian drone attack against Israel had been commanded and directly overseen by Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, his statement had one main goal: to make an official Israeli declaration that the intensifying conflict with Iran is not a war with the Iranian people or even with the Iranian regime. 

“It’s all Soleimani,” a senior Israeli security source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “Soleimani is the key person leading the fight against Israel with great determination who doesn’t get the broad hints. He must understand that Israel will chase the Quds Force and find it at any time and any place, and also monitor its capacity development and potential threat.” In other words, this is a not a national war. 

Those sharp of hearing may distinguish here the scope of the Israeli dilemma in dealing with Soleimani. No one doubts that he is almost single-handedly waging the Iranian effort from the Persian Gulf to coast the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to encircle Israel and surround it with hostile Iranian agents. Israeli officials admire his determination, which continues unabated even as he receives painful, sometimes humiliating blows at Israel’s hands. 

Soleimani is in a conclusively inferior position against Israel on several fronts: intelligence, where Israel is light years ahead of its enemies; technology, where Israel is also far ahead of Iran and Hezbollah; and air power, in which the Israeli air force still enjoys decisive superiority over its opponents.