The hawkish Israeli leaders appear they mean what they say this time. So this may be it.

First of all, Israelis are lining up to get new gas masks.

Israel’s deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon has called Sunday for an international declaration that the diplomatic effort to halt Tehran’s enrichment of uranium is dead, New York Times reported. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top ministers have been saying for weeks that while the sanctions against Iran have hurt its economy, they have not affected the nuclear program, which Iran’s leadership insists is for civilian purposes.

On Tuesday, an article in Ma’ariv suggested that Mr. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have set a deadline of 25 September for the US President to clearly state that the US itself will take military action, according to The Guardian newspaper. The date is the opening of the UN general assembly in New York, and also the eve of Yom Kippur, one of the most significant dates in the Jewish calendar.

Meanwhile, An Iranian defense official said on Wednesday that there is no other way but to destroy Israel. Ynet reported Gholam Reza Jalali as saying as such, quoting Iran’s ISNA news agency report. BBC news indicated that Israel is ‘prepared for 30-day war with Iran’ that would leave 500 Israelis dead. Iran’s government and military have made it clear that if it is attacked either by Israel or the US, it will respond in kind, either directly or through proxies, the report said.