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Anticipating a Major Attack Tends to Focus the Mind

(Telegraph-UK) Jake Wallis Simons - Few people in the West can imagine the experience of living day-to-day while anticipating a major attack. Ordinary Israeli citizens are going about their lives in the knowledge that, sooner or later, Iran will try to destroy them. Yet it is becoming increasingly apparent that Iran does not want war right now. This has been the consensus of intelligence analysts in the fortnight that has passed since the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel's enemies have seen the consequences of embedding your combatants among your own civilians. Jerusalem will do its utmost to target only the terrorists but ultimately, mess with the Jews and you will be bombed towards the Stone Age. Remember Rafah? President Biden was adamant that the IDF refrain from entering the town, citing the risk of mass civilian casualties. The fact that it was strategically vital as the location of the smuggling routes from Egypt apparently made no difference. Prime Minister Netanyahu finally ignored him and gave the green light. In ten days, a million civilians were evacuated to safety. Israeli forces quickly conquered the town with very low casualties. Now, despite the White House's best efforts, Hamas is in a final chokehold, deprived of the means for replenishing its weapons and cash. After the mass attack from Iran on Israel in April, the White House once again demanded "de-escalation," publicly counseling Jerusalem to "take the win." Knowing the laws of the Middle East, Netanyahu understood that this could not be an option, or the jackals would circle. His calibrated response was a surgical attack on a radar station near Tehran's sensitive nuclear site at Natanz. Netanyahu was saying: You fired 300 missiles at us with next to no damage. We fired two and hit one of your most closely-guarded assets. Beware. A similar message was sent by Jerusalem when Ismail Haniyeh was targeted in one of Iran's most closely-guarded facilities in Tehran: We can reach you anywhere. Israelis understand the experience of suffering a major attack. That tends to focus the mind on the need to deter the enemy. In the Middle East, peace is won through strength. Israel learned this long ago. What would it take for the West to catch on?
2024-08-15 00:00:00
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