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Israel Defends Itself - and May Save Western Civilization
(Wall Street Journal) Gerard Baker - What the Jewish state has done in the past year - for its own defense, but in the process for the security of all of us - will rank among the most important contributions to the defense of Western civilization in the past 3/4 of a century. Having been hit with a devastating attack on its people, beyond the fetid imagining of some of the vilest antisemites, Israel has in 12 months redrawn the balance of global security. It has eliminated thousands of the terrorists whose commitment to a savage theocratic ideology has claimed so many lives across the region and the world for decades. It has, with extraordinary tactical accuracy, dispatched some of the masterminds of the worst evil on the planet, including most recently Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader in Lebanon. It has repelled and then reversed the previously inexorably advancing power of one of the world's most terrifying autocracies, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Above all, it has provided a crucial reminder to our enemies that there are at least some willing and able to pursue and defeat them, whatever the risk. The only appropriate responses to Israel's gallantry, fortitude and skill from us - its nominal allies - are "thank you" and "how can we help?" Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few, Winston Churchill said of the men of the Royal Air Force after they had repelled Hitler's Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. We should echo those words today as we watch in awe what a country smaller than New Jersey has done for all of us.