According to a BDI report, if Israel launches an assault against Iran, a war that would follow would carry a price tag of 167 billion NIS including direct and indirect damages from the conflict. Direct damage from the warfare is predicted to reach 47 billion NIS in addition to a loss of production amounting to 24 billion NIS annually for the next five years due to the collapse of infrastructure.
The report analyzes the damages in the Second Lebanon War, comparing that sum to an ‘all out’ war today. In the Second Lebanon War, the main damage was in the north, where 20% of the nation’s GDP.
Experts believe that in a war resulting from an assault, the center of the country would also be targeted and this area accounts for 70% of the nation’s GDP (Gross Domestic Production). The GDP in 2011 was 870 billion NIS.
Some of the damages are difficult to predict the experts explain, including the loss of clients abroad and the closing down of business that do not ride out the storm of the loss during wartime.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
A war might very well cost zillions of shekels. However, the alternative is an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel, with much much more monetary damage, lots more fatalities c”v, and much more destruction.
Is this alternative (nuclear attack) better than the alternative the article talks about? Presumably not.
So why are so many people trying to convince us not to defend ourselves?!
What a strange article, that seems to be implying that that loss of monetary revenue takes precedence to loss of life. This implication is derived from the fact that no mention of loss of life was addressed.
Two oversights in this report: 1. They assume that a war will follow. That is far from certain. Iran would suffer much more from such a war. Just because they say they will create a war does not meanit so. It won’t have been the first time they lied. Probabely not the last. 2. Why no price tag on a nuclear attack from a terrorist operation getting a bomb from Iran, or Iran threatening nuclear retaliation if Israel defends against terrorists?
Other Muslim countries will perceive Iran as the victim of aggression. Israel will be in a long war. To get a picture of what a real war is like, in 1947-1949, Israel lost 1% of its population (that would be 60,000 in current number). In World War I, France and Germany lost 4% (for Israel, that would mean 250,000).
A one-shot semi-secret raid won’t work on Iran. Iran is substantially larger and more advanced than Iraq or Syria. If other Muslim countries feel obligated to support them, Israel is into a very big war. Even if it wins it will be a pyrric victory.