Over the weekend, Iran launched an unprecedented, direct attack against the state of Israel. Together with their Western and Arab allies, the Israelis thwarted the assault. On one hand, the Iranian regime telegraphed its moves ahead of time, then publicly declared the matter "concluded," which led some observers to conclude that this was a face-saving show -- following Israel's recent successful strike against Iranian military leaders in Syria -- that Tehran does not intend to escalate further. They were running footage on Iranian state television intended to convey a great victory to a domestic audience, but the shots were actually of a previous fire...in Texas. In fact, the most damage inflicted by Iran's missile and drone barrage took place inside Iran, due to multiple failures and misfires.
On the other hand, Iranian proxies have been hitting and killing Israelis and Americans in the region for months. And this wasn't some minor action undertaken by Tehran:
If what Jen correctly rpts as to numbers of ballistic missiles fired, it was a massive complex attack by Iran. Do not be lulled by limited damage rpts. Avoidance of massive damage was significant. Drones carry 100 lb warheads. Ballistic missiles carry up to 4000 lb warheads.… https://t.co/vyZpd680CD
— Keith Kellogg (@generalkellogg) April 14, 2024
Gen. Kellogg, whom we've quoted before, was chief of staff of the National Security Council under President Trump. The idea that Israel should not respond to a "massive" and "complex" attack from the Iranians was refuted in an excellent social media post by former Israeli Prime Minister and Netanyahu foe, Naftali Bennett. Every word of this is worthwhile:
1. Contrary to what pundits are saying, this wasn’t designed merely as “bells and whistles” with no damage. When you shoot 350 flying objects timed to hit Israel at the same moment, when you use three fundamentally different weapon types—cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and UAVs, you’re looking to penetrate Israel’s defenses and kill Israelis.
2. The US administration is telling us: “This is a victory, you’ve already won by thwarting the missiles. No need for any further action.”No, it’s NOT a victory. Yes, it’s a remarkable success of Israel’s air defense systems, but it’s not a victory. When a bully tries to hit you 350 times and only succeeds seven time, you’ve NOT won. You don’t win wars just by intercepting your enemy’s hits, nor do you deter it. Your enemy will just try harder with more and better weapons and methods next time. How DO you deter? By exacting a deeply painful price.
3. It’s incorrect to say “nobody got hurt”. There’s a 7 year-old Israeli-Arab girl called Amina Elhasuny fighting for her life. That’s who coward Khamenei hit.
4. The Islamic Republic of Iran made a big mistake. For the past 30 years it’s been wreaking havoc on the region—through its proxies. A terror-octopus whose head is Tehran, and its tentacles are in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Gaza. How convenient. The Mullahs send others to conduct horrendous terror attacks, and die for them. Other people’s blood. Israel’s strategic mistake for the past 30 years was to play along this strategy. We always fought the Octopus’ arms, but hardly exacted a price from its Iranian head. This should change now: Hezbollah or Hamas shoots a rocket at Israel? Tehran pays a price.
5. The enemy is the Iranian REGIME, not the wonderful Iranian people. The Iranian regime reminds me of the Soviet regime in 1985: corrupt to the core, old, incompetent, despised by its own people, and destined to collapse. The sooner the better. The West can accelerate the regime’s inevitable collapse with a set of soft and clever actions, short of military force. Remember, USSR collapsed without any need for a direct American attack. Let’s do this.
6. Israel is fighting everybody’s war. In Gaza, Lebanon and Tehran. We’re considered “the small satan” by radical Islam. America is the big one. I’ll be clear: if these crazy fanatic Islamic terrorists get away with murder by hiding among civilians, this method will be adopted by terrorists worldwide. We’re not asking anyone to fight for us. We’ll do the job. But we do expect our allies to have our back, especially when it’s tough—and now it’s tough. Be on the right side and help us defeat these horrible and savage regimes.
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One can only hope that the Biden administration internalizes this message, but that may be a quixotic hope. The president, who has been pressuring Israel nonstop over its righteous, defensive war against Hamas in Gaza, has reportedly already told the Israelis not to respond to the blitz from Iran (which Biden's insane policy has been enriching and empowering). Based on everything we know, it looks like officials in Jerusalem will respect Biden's "don't" admonition just as much as the mullahs in Tehran did. Team Biden is also fuming to reporters that Hamas just keeps rejecting ceasefire deals. It seems the genocidal, raping, child-burning mass murderers are neither good guys nor reasonable. Imagine that:
Ynet: A senior American official: "Hamas rejecting the deal is just disgraceful; the offer had everything they asked for."
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) April 14, 2024
Meanwhile, much of the 'ceasefire now' crowd is either blaming Israel for Iran's attack, or just openly rooting for Iran. CAIR, a group that essentially exists to scold Americans about 'Islamophobia,' put out this characteristically deceitful statement about the weekend's developments:
We call on the Biden administration to reject the far-right Israeli government’s “transparent” attempt to distract from the #Gaza #genocide by dragging the U.S. into a regional war and instead demand that the Israeli government de-escalate the crisis it started. #Iran #Israel pic.twitter.com/x77iNpi7My
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) April 13, 2024
Several points: First, it's a lunatic conspiracy to pretend that Iran shooting hundreds of missiles and armed drones at Israel is a 'distraction' in any sense. Second, there is no Israeli "genocide" in Gaza, though Hamas is an explicitly genocidal terrorist group. Third, Israel did not "start" this crisis. There was a ceasefire on October 6th, which Hamas -- with the funding and backing of Iran -- violated on October 7th, killing more than 1,200 people. Israel's targeted strike against senior Iranian military targets inside Syria was a retaliatory response to October 7th. Iran-supported Hamas started this. Iran escalated, again. Arab states helped Israel stave off this attack, which is excellent news, as is Saudi Arabia's new hints at keeping a peace deal with Israel on the table. It's extraordinary that Israel and its allies just protected one of the holiest sites in Judaism, Christianity and Islam from Iran's aggression. Fourth, let's recall what CAIR is really all about. Here is their Executive Director publicly celebrating October's terrorist massacre:
🧵Cannot stop thinking about this. America’s most prominent anti-‘Islamophobia’ org is run by a man who openly endorses Hamas’ 10/7 genocidal slaughter of civilians. CAIR ostensibly exists to combat anti-Muslim bigotry. Its leader is now out as an admitted terrorism supporter… https://t.co/OrvRkPui2C
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 7, 2023
CAIR is a pro-Islamist-terrorism organization (which was also an unindicted co-conspirator in a major federal terrorism funding case) that demands that Americans not notice or object, lest they be labeled 'Islamophobic." I'll leave you with a new, vivid illustration of the unholy alliance between anti-American Islamist zealots and hardcore left-wing radicals. 'Death to America' chants aren't just in Dearborn anymore:
Anti-war activists in Chicago learn to chant “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” in Farsi.
— The Free Press (@TheFP) April 14, 2024
Read more from The FP’s @Olivia_Reingold: https://t.co/1jMM5ydhpp pic.twitter.com/z7T9AKNrF9
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