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The Attack on Iran Had to Be Done

(Times of Israel) 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.
2025-06-23 00:00:00
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