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In-Depth Issues:
Pentagon Details Multipronged Attack on Iranian Nuclear Sites - Helene Cooper ( New York Times)
Senior Pentagon officials on Sunday described a coordinated military operation targeting Iran that took place under utmost secrecy and showcased what the American military was capable of.
The B-2 stealth bombers took off in secrecy on Friday night from Missouri for the more than 7,000-mile trip, which involved multiple refuelings.
They struck the heavily fortified nuclear site at Fordo, as well as facilities at Natanz.
A U.S. Navy submarine also launched more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at a third site, Isfahan.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Iran had not deployed fighter jets or surface-to-air missiles to hit back at the American planes.
"We are currently unaware of any shots fired at the U.S. strike package on the way in."
Mossad's Penetration of Iran Surpasses Its Demolition of Hizbullah - Yossi Melman ( Jewish Chronicle-UK)
Three days before Israel launched the war against Iran, dozens of Mossad operatives from its elite commando unit infiltrated several areas of the Islamic Republic.
They reached pre-prepared meeting points, where dozens of local helpers were waiting, who had prepared rendezvous points, vehicles, safe houses, communication equipment, and had opened the pre-stocked warehouses.
The missions of the Mossad operatives were to assemble and launch drones from the warehouses to disable Iran's air defense systems, to assist in assassinating Iranian scientists, and to continue gathering intelligence in real time to help the Israeli Air Force assess the damage caused to Iran and leverage it for continued strikes.
All these missions were completed successfully and even exceeded expectations.
Iran's Strait of Hormuz Gambit - Editorial ( Wall Street Journal)
Iran's Parliament voted Sunday to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea passage out of the Persian Gulf that 20% of the world's oil supply moves through.
If the regime does this, it will be consistent with Iran's recent behavior, which is to go for its own jugular.
China would be one of the biggest losers from a Hormuz shutdown, as much of its oil comes from the Gulf.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that closing the Strait "would be a suicidal move on their part because I think the whole world would come against them if they did that."
Imagine if Iran had nuclear weapons and threatened to close down the Strait to leverage some geopolitical or military advantage. The Western response to clear the Strait would be at much higher risk.
The U.S. Should End Iran's Endless War on the World - Mark Goldfeder ( The Hill)
For more than 40 years, Iran has waged a relentless shadow war against the U.S., its allies, and the Free World.
Iran is not a regional irritant but a global predator. It has American blood on its hands.
Its proxies have killed hundreds of U.S. servicemembers - 603 in Iraq alone, according to a 2019 Pentagon report. Its militias target our bases, its assassins target our leaders, its cyber-assaults probe our infrastructure, and its leaders openly promise our destruction.
Some push for endless diplomacy, as if words alone can sway a regime built on defiance. Negotiation has its place, but only when backed by unrelenting pressure.
Weakness invites aggression; strength compels restraint. Ending Iran's endless war is the very essence of "America First."
It means protecting our people, our prosperity and our principles by confronting a regime that has terrorized the world for too long.
The writer is an international lawyer and a law professor at Touro University.
Protesters March through London Supporting Iran's Supreme Leader - Janet Eastham ( Telegraph-UK)
Protesters marched through central London with placards in support of Iran's supreme leader during a heated pro-Palestinian demonstration on Saturday.
The marchers were met with hundreds of pro-Israeli supporters, triggering a stand-off.
Israel's Stocks Are Soaring with Iran War -
David Wainer ( Wall Street Journal)
Iranian ballistic missiles are falling in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Israel's main airport is shut. Much of the workforce is moving in and out of bomb shelters.
Yet Israeli markets are buoyant, outperforming the world. Israeli stocks have been posting solid gains.
Partly this can be explained by the familiarity of local investors with war.
But markets are also signaling renewed confidence in Israel's position and strategy - and Donald Trump's decision to strike Iran's nuclear sites has only strengthened that perception.
Despite mass mobilization of reservists and fighting on several fronts, Israel's economy has remained remarkably resilient since the Gaza war began nearly two years ago.
The economy is still growing, and unemployment remains near multidecade lows of around 3%.
It appears investors are betting that Israel's strikes on Iran will deal a crippling, if not decisive, blow to Tehran's regional axis.
Israel's military actions have reduced what investors call its risk premium, or the amount that geopolitical risks are priced into its assets.
That could pave the way for more foreign investment once the dust settles, says Rafael Gozlan, chief economist at IBI Investment House in Tel Aviv.
Israel Isn't Striving for Regional Hegemony, It's Striving to Be Left Alone - Seth Mandel ( Commentary)
The question regarding Israeli regional hegemony is mostly being asked by those who want to see Israel weakened or destroyed.
The Washington Post's Ishaan Tharoor paints Israel's preemptive action as unprovoked, thus ignoring the entirety of recorded history.
If the region has a hegemon, it is the United States. Israel became a regional power by being forced to demonstrate its strength.
The question of Israel's supposed regional hegemony is beside the point. Israel would not, in fact, enforce a specific order upon the region no matter how much power it had.
Israel would simply do what it has been trying to do since 1948: convince its antagonists to leave it the hell alone.
I Am Proud to Be a Zionist and You Should Be One Too - Danny Cohen ( Telegraph-UK)
Over the past year it has become increasingly normal for people in Britain to use "Zionist" as a slur. To say that simply believing in the State of Israel's right to exist is fundamentally reprehensible.
I can think of no other religion or nation state that has to put up with this. It is only the Jewish state that has the right to its very existence challenged in this way.
Only Jewish people who should be denied a homeland. A homeland in the place Jews have lived, loved, worked and prayed for thousands of years.
In Tehran, free speech and political opposition are violently suppressed in a country run autocratically and often brutally by ayatollahs. Women are not equal citizens and the gay community have to live in fear.
Yet do you hear anyone calling for an end to the existence of Iran? Are there placards at mass marches on Britain's streets calling for the extinction of that nation?
The reason this is happening with Israel but not other countries is horribly clear. It is because Israel is the homeland of Jews.
I declare proudly I'm a Zionist. I believe Israel should exist.
The writer was the director of BBC Television (2013-15).
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- At Trump's Request, Israel Cleared Way for U.S. Bombers in Iran - Barak Ravid
At the request of the Trump administration, the Israeli Air Force took out multiple Iranian air defense systems in the 48 hours leading up to the U.S. strike on Iran's Fordow nuclear facility, three U.S. and Israeli officials said. Israel played a direct role in enabling the U.S. military operation. "I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu," Trump told the nation on Saturday. "We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before."
After the president decided he would move forward with a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, Netanyahu asked, "How can we help?" Trump told Netanyahu he wanted the Israeli Air Force to eliminate as many Iranian air defense systems as possible in southern Iran to clear a path for incoming U.S. B-2 bombers. The U.S. then provided Israel with a list of air defense systems it wanted eliminated.
"In the 48 hours before the U.S. operation, the IDF conducted several strikes in the area to degrade Iranian defenses," an Israeli official said.
"We didn't press the U.S. to join the war. We were careful not to create the impression that we are dragging the U.S. into a war," an Israeli official said. "But luckily for us, God hardened Pharaoh's heart - Khamenei acted like an idiot and refused any proposal from the U.S."
A U.S. official said, "The president doesn't want to continue strikes on Iran. He's ready to do it if the Iranians retaliate against U.S. forces, but he told Netanyahu that he wants peace." An Israeli official added, "The Americans made it clear to us they want to close this round. They don't mind if we continue our strikes, but when it comes to them, they're done."
(Axios)
- U.S. Tells UN: For 40 Years, the Iranian Government Has Called for "Death to America"
U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea told the UN Security Council on Sunday: "U.S. military strikes targeted nuclear facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan - with the aim of dismantling Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and stopping the nuclear threat posed by the world's foremost state sponsor of terror. This operation sought to eliminate a longstanding but rapidly escalating source of global insecurity."
"For 40 years, the Iranian government has called for 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' and posed a constant menace to the peace and security of its neighbors, the United States, and the entire world. Iran has attacked Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles and through terrorist proxies. For decades, Iran has been responsible for misery and countless deaths across the Middle East. Iran's government and its proxies have also killed numerous Americans, including American service members in Iraq and Afghanistan."
"Iran has long obfuscated its nuclear weapons program and stonewalled good-faith efforts in recent negotiations. The time finally came for the United States, in the defense of its ally and in the defense of our own citizens and interest, to act decisively. The Iranian regime cannot have a nuclear weapon."
"To fulfill its core mission of maintaining international peace and security, this Council must call upon the Iranian regime to end its forty-seven year effort to eradicate the State of Israel, to terminate its drive for nuclear weapons, to stop targeting American citizens and interests, and to negotiate peace in good faith for the prosperity and security of the Iranian people and all other States in the region."
(U.S. Mission to the UN)
See also At UN Security Council, Israel Hails U.S. Strikes, Blasts States Criticizing Attack
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the UN Security Council on Sunday: "Last night, history changed. The United States, the leader of the Free World, removed the greatest existential threat facing the Free World. This was not a war of choice; this act was a necessity; it was a righteous act."
Danon asked those states who criticized the U.S. strike: "Where were you when Iran raced toward the bomb? Where were you when it enriched uranium far beyond the point of civilian use?...Where were you when Iran turned negotiation into theater and deceit into strategy? You were silent. You were complicit. You were afraid. You were bystanders."
"This is what the last line of defense looks like when every other line has failed. The cost of inaction would have been catastrophic. A nuclear Iran would have been a death sentence just as much for you as it would have been for us." (Times of Israel-Reuters)
- Iranians Downplay the Damage to their Nuclear Facilities - Farnaz Fassihi
Iran was reeling from American military attacks on its three main nuclear sites early Sunday, with four officials describing the mood in the government as one of defeat and national humiliation. Publicly, Iranian officials have tried to project a sense of normalcy even though nothing is normal. They have tried to downplay the damage to the nuclear facilities, even though satellite images show the mountainous site of Fordo's underground facilities punctured with huge holes.
Hamid Hosseini, a member of the country's Chamber of Commerce energy committee, said in a phone interview from Tehran that Iran did not have the upper hand - militarily and technologically - and that it was time to stand down. "We need to make national interests the priority. We are not supposed to be at war forever."
State television and news media affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards reported that the nuclear sites had not sustained major damage, and that nearby residents had not heard huge explosions. They broadcast scenes of people shopping at the market and driving on roads in Qum and Isfahan, the urban areas closest to the nuclear sites. (New York Times)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel: Most of Iran's Nuclear Program Has Been Destroyed or Severely Damaged - Amichai Stein
"Four days ago, there was a phone call between Netanyahu and the U.S. president, during which Trump said, 'I've decided to launch a strike,'" an Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post. Since Israel began attacking nuclear sites and other targets inside Iran about a week and a half ago, Netanyahu and the U.S. president have spoken almost daily. "Without Israel's achievements and the results of its operation, the American president would never have even considered joining the strike," sources said.
Initially, Trump only planned to bomb the enrichment facility in Fordow. However, an Israeli official said Prime Minister Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Dermer convinced him to also target the Isfahan facility and the enrichment site in Natanz - both of which Israel had already attacked in the past week - "in order to finish the job."
"The Americans struck locations within these sites that Israel had trouble reaching," said the Israeli source. "The U.S. hit a zone in Isfahan hidden in the mountainside, where the Iranians had stored enriched uranium and other nuclear-related infrastructure....There was full cooperation between Israel and the U.S. regarding the American strike....Israel provided intelligence and contributed to its success."
According to Israeli officials, most of Iran's nuclear program has either been destroyed or severely damaged. However, "some secondary sites remain," which continue to be considered targets. (Jerusalem Post)
- Israel Strikes Iranian Jets at Six Airports
The IDF struck six airports throughout Iran on Monday morning, damaging runways, underground bunkers, a refueling aircraft, and fighter jets, including the F-14, F-5, and AH-1. Additionally, Israel Air Force fighter jets targeted surface-to-surface missile launch and storage sites in western Iran.
(Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
War with Iran
- Israel Won't Allow Iran to Resume Nuclear Enrichment - Elliot Kaufman
Since the start of the Israeli assault, the Iranian regime has been in shock and denial, says Sharona Mazalian Levi, a researcher at Tel Aviv University's Alliance Center for Iranian Studies. "The regime got so used to lying to the people, it came to believe its own propaganda," she says. Israel was on the road to collapse. Iran could never be seriously challenged.
In reality, Israel, the size of New Jersey, was devastating Iran's nuclear program, ballistic-missile program and military chain of command. "The missile math now is very much in Israel's favor," Gen. David Petraeus, the former U.S. CENTCOM commander, said Wednesday. Unlike Russia or Ukraine, the Israelis also have air supremacy. "They can do anything they want, just about." That means Israel can also destroy any future Iranian start toward resuming nuclear enrichment.
"This whole idea that this just sets them back a couple of years - I think that's nonsensical," Petraeus says. The nuclear program "will not only be destroyed now, and all of it, but Israel won't allow it to happen again." This puts the U.S. "in an enormous position of leverage."
(Wall Street Journal)
- Trump's Courageous and Correct Decision - Bret Stephens
For decades, a succession of American presidents pledged that they were willing to use force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. There are few greater risks to American security than a nuclear Iran.
The regime is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. It is ideologically committed to the annihilation of Israel and is currently attacking it with indiscriminate missile fire on civilian targets.
It is an ally of North Korea, China and Russia - and supplies many of the drones Russia uses to attack Ukraine. It is developing and fielding thousands of ballistic missiles of increasingly greater reach. Its acquisition of a bomb would set off an arms race in the Middle East. And it has sought to assassinate American citizens on American soil. If all this is not intolerable, what is? (New York Times)
- Iran Badly Miscalculated, Now It's Paying the Price - Max Boot
The U.S. attack on Iran is another ripple effect from Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. In launching its barbaric assault on Israel, Iranian-backed Hamas wanted to draw its regional partners into a broader war that, it hoped, would lead to the destruction of the Jewish state. But instead, Hamas set in motion a train of events that resulted in the destruction of Iranian power across the region.
Much of Gaza has been razed, Hamas is a shadow of its former self, and most of its commanders are dead including Yahya Sinwar, the architect of 10/7. Hizbullah, which followed up by rocketing northern Israel for many months, has been decimated, its longtime leader, Hasan Nasrallah, is also dead, along with most of its senior commanders. Another Iranian client, Bashar al-Assad, was toppled by rebels in Syria late last year.
It is clear that Iran made a terrible miscalculation by dragging its feet on negotiations.
Iranian negotiators, overestimating their country's power and leverage, took a tough line by resisting U.S. demands to give up all of their enrichment capacity. Even while talking with the U.S., the Iranians kept enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels, raising alarms in Jerusalem. They thought they could get away with it. They were wrong. (Washington Post)
- Why Trump Bombed Iran - John Miller
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had exceeded the agreed limits, quantity of uranium, enrichment levels, the number and types of centrifuges, and the continuing research and development of metal compounds used in missile development. No country without a nuclear-weapons program operates facilities buried under remote mountains and strives for faster centrifuges and more-highly enriched uranium. None of that makes sense for civilian energy programs.
In a remarkable chart released in May, U.S. military weapons experts assessed that by 2035 Iran would have space-launched vehicles to carry conventional or nuclear missiles that could fly orbital paths and reach the U.S. The U.S. also predicted that by 2035 Iran would have 60 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Those are some of the arguments that likely swayed President Trump to see an increasing threat from Iran. For Israel, the threat isn't halfway around the world or 10 years off.
The writer served as the New York City Police Department's deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, 2014-22.
(Wall Street Journal)
- Why the U.S. Needs Israel to Win in Iran Just as Much as Israel Needs It - David Harris
Iran has been an implacable enemy of the U.S. since 1979, when the mullahs seized power in Tehran.
Despite Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's astonishing claim that no Americans have been attacked by Iran, the exact opposite is true. Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hizbullah and the Houthis, have kidnapped scores of Americans; killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers; attacked American installations in the Middle East; plagued our shipping in the Straits of Hormuz; plotted to assassinate an American president and other top officials; and pursued Iranian dissidents on American soil.
All this while the regime cries "Death to America," and seeks weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them with precision. Moreover, Iran has provided drones to Russia to be used to kill and maim Ukrainians in Moscow's war of aggression, not to mention seeking the annihilation of Israel, one of America's closest allies.
Iran's expansionist agenda has sought to destabilize U.S. friends from Morocco to Kurdistan, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. It cooperates with North Korea on advanced missile development. And it has been the principal sponsor of international terror, triggering deadly attacks across the globe, including in the Western Hemisphere. Those opposed to U.S. military action argue it will put Americans in harm's way. But the truth is that Americans have been in harm's way since the Shah of Iran was ousted in 1979.
Israel, which has bravely taken on the fight against Iran, though far smaller and acting alone, has never asked for American boots on the ground. Rather, it sees an historic opportunity to end a 46-year threat to regional and global peace, while making the world safer by severely weakening a messianic, aggressive regime.
The writer, former CEO of the American Jewish Committee, is executive vice chair of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). (New York Post)
- Why Israel Had to Act - Melanie Phillips interviewed by Brendan O'Neill
Judging by most Western commentary, you could be forgiven for forgetting that Iran started this war. That Hamas, an Iranian proxy, launched a bloody assault on Israel on 7 October 2023. And that Hizbullah and the Houthis, two other Iranian-backed groups, later joined in the violence. So why is Israel being framed as the aggressor?
Phillips: "I'm not at all surprised that Israel attacked Iran....Israel had very credible intelligence that two things were happening which meant it was in existential peril. It had to act and it did. The first was that Iran was at the point of working out how to fit nuclear material onto its missiles. The second was that it had ramped up its ballistic missile production to produce 300 missiles per month. This was considered to be an immediate existential threat, which Israel had no choice but to confront."
"This was a tremendous act of courage, because...Iran had thousands of extremely powerful missiles. They were much more powerful than the missiles that have been raining down on Israel from Hamas, Hizbullah and the Houthis...and could do much more harm."
"What people don't want to understand is that 7 October 2023 was the opening salvo in an onslaught by Iran to exterminate Israel. Iran was largely working through its proxies in a seven-front war, involving Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and what is called the West Bank - all of them attacked Israel in various ways at the same time."
"There is no negotiation with people who believe it is their God-given duty to wipe the Jews off the face of the Earth. Netanyahu waited until there was literally no alternative."
"There is a sense of us all being in this together - a sense of absolute certainty that whatever horrors lie ahead, we are going to win this, and we are going to defeat evil, because we are fighting the good fight."
"This highly traumatized, scapegoated nation is absolutely unbowed and undaunted. Its courage is absolutely off the scale. Its resilience is off the scale. Its optimism and its happiness are off the scale because it knows what it is. It loves what it is. It knows it wants to survive. It knows why it wants to survive."
Melanie Phillips is a columnist for The Times-UK. (Spiked-UK)
- The Attack on Iran Had to Be Done - Yossi Klein Halevi
Power is not the answer to all problems. But neither is restraint. If you have the power to prevent the world's biggest exporter of terrorism from developing nuclear immunity yet fail to use it, then disarm, embrace pacifism, and prepare to suffer the consequences.
To those who blame President Trump for abandoning the JCPOA - Barack Obama's deal with Iran - consider this: Had the JCPOA still been in effect, its "sunset clause," allowing Iran to produce advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons-grade level in a matter of weeks, would be coming into effect around now. At the same time, the JCPOA would have permitted Iran to continue developing nuclear warheads and delivery systems.
For the last 40 years, the Iranian regime has consistently expressed, in rhetoric and policy, its intention to destroy the Jewish state. Yet the international community took those threats and actions in stride. There are moments when leaders need to decisively deal with an existential threat and not allow fear of the consequences to paralyze them. We will deal with the consequences as they unfold.
Had Israel listened to the warnings of some of its well-intentioned friends not to go to war on Oct. 8, we would still be surrounded on most of our borders by terror entities committed to our destruction. Israel's stunning achievement in breaking that vise refutes the pessimists.
Hamas's massacre of Israelis was not an expression of an oppressed people revolting against occupation, as much of the world believes; it was the latest phase of the radical Islamist war against Israel's existence. For the last 18 months, we have been fighting Iran's proxies. Now, finally and inevitably, we have taken the war to its source.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. (Times of Israel)
- Why Does the World Think Israel Is the Aggressor? - Irwin J. (Yitzhak) Mansdorf
Iran's indiscriminate missile attacks that Israelis are experiencing are different from anything experienced before. The missiles are bigger and better, and there are many, many more of them to contend with. Being out in the open when an attack happens exposes oneself to risk, making going to the supermarket a real adventure.
In the long-awaited confrontation with Iran, what may determine who "wins" will be how the world perceives the battle. For Israelis and many other like-minded people, this is a clear choice between right and wrong, between good and evil. But if recent history is at all a guide, we can't take anything for granted. One only needs to look to the streets and campuses of the West to see intelligent, moral people advocating on behalf of what seems to be so obviously wrong.
In psychological asymmetric warfare, any "victim" has the advantage over the opposing side and objectivity fades away. Already, terms like "de-escalation" are being used, as if de-escalating before a legitimate threat is verifiably eliminated is a morally good thing. We are told that the supermarkets and residential buildings targeted in Israel are in fact military targets.
The writer is a clinical psychologist and a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs specializing in political psychology.
(Jerusalem Post)
- Britain's Chief Rabbi: "We Are Experiencing a Direct Attempt to Wipe Out the Jewish State" - Camilla Tominey
Sir Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, said in an interview, "We don't have a front row seat [to history]. We are on the stage. Every single person in Israel right now is a target and that includes Palestinians, Arabs, people of all nationalities and religions. We are experiencing a direct attempt to wipe out the Jewish state."
Mirvis is now effectively in lockdown in Israel where he was visiting family, since the closure of Ben-Gurion Airport. He says, "Taking cover in a shelter is a regular feature of life in Israel, and....I've needed to do this on quite a number of occasions when I've been a tourist here over the years. So there was hardly any element of surprise, only the question of what will be the extent of damage to human life and to infrastructure."
"Iran is purposefully using missiles which take 12 minutes, and therefore there isn't a lot of time. You basically have four minutes [after Israel's sirens ring out] so there's a scramble. All modern houses are fitted with a safe room but many people living in older houses don't have such a room in their home and therefore need to go to a public shelter nearby."
Jews are currently "a target to be wiped out together with this entire state. It's plain, it's straightforward. I'm mystified as to why so many other people out there aren't really getting the reality of what is transpiring and why it is necessary for Israel to do what she's doing. This is not a war of choice that Israel is engaged in. It's a war of necessity." (Telegraph-UK)
Observations:
- Iran is one of our bitter enemies: its spies and propagandists operate in the UK, it has kidnapped and threatened our citizens and it despises us as one of two "Little Satans" (the other is Israel) to America's Big Satan. We should be thanking Jerusalem for taking care of the Mullahs and the IRGC on our behalf.
- Everything has suddenly changed in the Middle East. The good guys are winning a key battle in the great global conflict. Israel and America are reestablishing Western deterrence following the debacle of the retreat from Afghanistan. They are well on their way to preempting a nuclear apocalypse. Iran's defenestration amounts to a rare, yet hugely important, victory in the fight against atomic proliferation.
- It is hard to exaggerate the outsized role that Israel is now playing, and how much it is aiding an ungrateful and ethically compromised Europe. By necessity and out of self-interest, it has become the West's praetorian guard, a nation of heroes dedicated to doing our dirty work for us.
- A tiny country the size of Wales, its population barely larger than London's, Israel is annihilating - from 1,000 miles away - an oil-rich regional superpower that is nine times more populous and boasts a 75 times larger land area, while waging a conflict on seven fronts.
- The Jewish state has demonstrated a level of military and strategic brilliance over the past year last witnessed from a Western nation in the Second World War. Israel's fightback since Oct. 7 has been astonishing, and is helping to undo the narrative of Western decline.
- The forces of Islamism are in historic retreat: Israel's destruction of the Iranian proxy system is an even greater victory for Western civilization than the ending of al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
With the West being rescued from its own stupidity, perhaps now is the time to allow ourselves a fleeting
moment of optimism.
The writer is editor of the Sunday Telegraph-UK.
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