The site where a missile fired from Iran hit a school in the town of Gedera in central Israel, Oct. 1, 2024. Photo courtesy Liron Moldovan/Flash90.
By MITCHELL BARD
JNS
It’s time to confront the reality: We are already in a regional war. So why do officials and analysts insist that Israel must de-escalate to avoid further conflict?
U.S. President Joe Biden and his merry band of Arabists cling to the illusion that restraining Israel will somehow prevent a broader conflict. Meanwhile, Iran—emboldened by a lack of decisive action by the United States—is spreading its malevolent tentacles globally. Fired by its jihadist ideology, Iran seeks regional hegemony and, ultimately, world domination.
Using its multiple proxies, Iran has provoked the conflagration that now engulfs Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Qatar and Iran. This is all before Iran gets nuclear weapons, which it is on the cusp of producing.
Global Blind Eye
How much more aggression must Iran display before the world acts?
Iran’s proxies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip have stoked a war that will leave Gaza and Lebanon devastated. The Houthis have interdicted shipping through the Red Sea for more than a year. The United States and the United Kingdom could end the threat swiftly, but they are afraid of—wait for it—triggering a regional war.
DC Choosing Battles
We keep hearing how Washington wants to pivot its military attention to Asia to be prepared to confront the Chinese. If it can’t defeat the Houthis and defend the Red Sea, how is the United States going to protect Taiwan and ensure the freedom of navigation in the Pacific?
When U.S. forces were present in Iraq, the mullahs were afraid that they might be next. When we withdrew most of our troops and then-President Barack Obama demonstrated that he would not use military force against Iran under any circumstances, they were emboldened. The 2015 nuclear deal was a desperate attempt at appeasement; it only encouraged Iran to pursue its malign agenda. They snookered Obama into paying them billions to sign a nuclear agreement they had no intention of adhering to.
Iran Sees Unwilling U.S.
Former President Donald Trump bloviated about the hellfire he would bring on Iran and then called off the reprisal for attacking U.S. soldiers. His “maximum pressure” campaign was minimized by uncooperative allies and the willingness of China to circumvent sanctions to buy oil.
Biden began his term prepared to make concessions in a naive hope the Iranians would give up their nuclear program. He, too, paid Iran billions, and by withdrawing from Afghanistan and allowing the Taliban to return to power, sent Iran the message that he had no stomach for confrontation.
Undeterred, Iran is interfering in our election and formulating plans to assassinate the former president and other Americans. Simultaneously, it is engaged in similar malign activities in Europe, where the leaders are even more feckless.
Amid this chaos, the Obama/Biden Arabists still chant their foolish and dangerous mantra that Israel should endure attacks and accept a state run by terrorists to pacify the Middle East. Much of the region’s volatility has nothing to do with the Palestinians. Iran is willing to fight to the last Hezbollah terrorist to destroy Israel because it is a Jewish state in the Islamic heartland, not because the Islamic Republic seeks to facilitate Palestinian independence. The Shi’ite Iranians have no interest in a Hamas state because most Palestinians are Sunni Muslims; Iran wants to eliminate those “apostates” and undermine all Sunni Arab regimes.
While not all Palestinians support violence, their leadership has consistently espoused genocidal aims against Israel. Children are taught in their schools to follow in their footsteps.
The PLO and Hamas have not hidden their goal of destroying Israel. The main difference has always been the PLO’s willingness to do it in stages. Palestinians from the West Bank participated proudly in the massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Others praised Hamas. This is who the Arabists are pressuring Israel to accept as the rulers of Gaza to prevent a regional war.
Do not forget that it was the Arabist geniuses—you know, the ones now squawking endlessly about diplomatic solutions and ceasefires—that forced Israel to withdraw from Lebanon with the promise that the U.N. peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) and a toothless U.N. resolution would keep them safe. Instead, Hezbollah, acting as Iran’s puppet, violated the resolution while UNIFIL watched and established a terror infrastructure along Israel’s border meant to facilitate an Oct. 7-type attack; bombard Israel with rockets; and provide Iran with a buffer to protect it from Israel.
Elections Confuse Issues
America and the rest of the world have the luxury of telling Israel to do as they say, not as they do. Israel is not just held to a higher standard; it is held to an impossible standard that comes down to surrendering to its enemies for the greater good of everyone but the Jewish people.
Israel shares democratic values with the United States, but Americans don’t like when that system produces decisions we don’t like. The darn Israelis’ fight for their lives might interfere with our presidential election. For example, we don’t want Israel to hit Iran’s oil fields because it would likely lead to a rise in gas prices here and spoil Kamala Harris’s chances to become president.
Smell The Coffee
The anti-Semites want to blame Israel for dragging the United States into a war. Arabists warn of the same danger. The difference is the latter know we are already in a war with Iran that has nothing to do with Israel, and everything to do with the clash they refuse to acknowledge between radical Islam and the West.
There is no avoiding a regional war because it has been ongoing for more than a year already. The question is whether Washington will support Jerusalem in defending itself from Iran and its proxies, or whether it will try to appease the barbarians who have already breached our gates.
