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Source: https://www.jns.org/washingtons-iran-diplomacy-addiction-shouldnt-stop-israel/
Washington's Support for Israeli Actions Against Hizbullah and Iran Is Crucial
(JNS) Jonathan S. Tobin - While the fighting against Hamas in Gaza continues, most of Israel's military efforts are now aimed at ensuring that Hizbullah's forces in Lebanon do not have the power to continue to depopulate northern Israel. Israel cannot afford to let Hamas survive in Gaza or allow Hizbullah to continue to use Lebanon as a base for attacks on its northern border communities and the rest of the country. Iran is behind both Hamas and Hizbullah's attacks on Israel. Years of American efforts at bribing and appeasing Iran have done nothing to change the Islamic Republic's desire to achieve regional hegemony or to dampen its enthusiasm for funding groups that seek to destroy Israel and spread terror around the world. This is a moment when Washington's support for a campaign to defeat a terrorist movement that has American, as well as Israeli and Jewish, blood on its hands would be crucial. Instead, the administration is signaling that it wants no part of an ongoing conflict whose ultimate target is to defeat Iran. The administration's leak to the press that it wants Israel to avoid striking at Iran's nuclear-weapons program, which is an existential threat not just to Israel but to Arab nations and the West, was an indication of its ongoing devotion to the idea that Tehran's most important assets should not be threatened. If Washington were to back Israel's efforts to topple Hizbullah and strike the sort of blow against Tehran that might shake the regime's hold on power, it would give the region hope that the mullahs' reign of terror as the Middle East's "strong horse" is ending. Should America choose more pointless diplomacy rather than a path towards Iran's defeat, the price will be paid in the blood of Israelis as well as Arabs.