Five takeaways from the bomb shelter: Reflections on the Israel-Iran War – comment
A Jerusalem Post editor reflects on Iran's war on Israel from his bomb shelter. Is there an end in sight to Operation Rising Lion?
In the netherworld between sleep, dreams, Home Front alerts, and bomb shelter zombie-like states, thoughts emerge and fade like the scenery on a country road.
Here are five that keep popping up about the Israel-Iran War, Operation Rising Lion, which began on Thursday night.
1. Bibi’s war
Several pundits and columnists, local and abroad, have referred to the fight for survival that Israel is involved in as “Bibi’s (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s) war.” Their bias against Israel is shining through.“Bibi’s war” has been endorsed by opposition leader Yair Lapid. He wrote in Monday’s The Jerusalem Post, “The whole country is united in this moment; when faced with an enemy sworn to our destruction, nothing will divide us.”
The Thomas Friedmans and Haaretzs of the world will try to paint this as yet another example of the current “extreme” Israeli government trying to take over the region, like it has done in Gaza (forget small details like October 7). Don’t believe them.
2. Israel Katz
Is Defense Minister Israel Katz good for anything? He was harmless enough when he was posting mildly offensive memes about the Houthis over the last months. But on Monday, he wrote, “The arrogant dictator from Tehran has become a cowardly murderer, targeting civilian areas in Israel to deter the IDF from continuing its attack that is crippling his capabilities. The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”Katz ostensibly threatened to indiscriminately target civilians, something that Israel has prided itself on not doing. Every hasbara (public diplomacy) tweet touts how Israel is targeting military targets in Iran while the regime is targeting civilians, aiming to kill as many as possible.
Does Katz want to drag us down to their level? This is especially bad in light of his prime minister releasing a video addressed to the Iranian people saying, “Our fight is against the murderous Islamic regime that oppresses and impoverishes you… This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard.”
Predictably, Katz, on Monday, backtracked on his bluster, issuing a statement saying: “I wish to clarify the obvious: There is no intention to physically harm the residents of Tehran as the murderous dictator does to the residents of Israel… The residents of Tehran will have to pay the price of dictatorship and evacuate their homes from areas where it will be necessary to attack regime targets and security infrastructures in Tehran.”
But the damage had already been done.
3. Is the endgame in sight?
What is the endgame? When will the IDF and the government know that Iran is no longer an existential threat to Israel, and how many Israelis will die in ballistic missile attacks before then?IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin said on Monday that the air force had destroyed about 120 of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, a third of its arsenal.
And as the Post’s Yonah Jeremy Bob wrote, “The successes are very real. If Iran’s nuclear program is still standing… it is heavily damaged and less of an immediate potential threat to rapidly break out to a nuclear weapon or multiple weapons.”
Are we trying to remove the immediate nuclear threat? Stop Iran’s ballistic missile capability? Initiate a regime change? Or all of the above? Sitting in a bomb shelter, it’s something most of us would like to know.
4. Coming to Israel’s aid
Where is the rest of the world? It’s a rhetorical question, but why aren’t freedom-loving countries in North America, Europe, and the Middle East lauding Israel’s efforts against Iran and sending military hardware and technology to help us against Tehran’s attempts to kill civilians?Instead of issuing limp calls for “restraint” on both sides – or, in the case of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, condemning Israel’s actions – these countries should be dancing in the aisles that the Iranian threat and ability to destabilize the entire region for decades is being neutralized.
Nobody has any idea what’s happening behind the scenes in Washington and in US President Donald Trump’s brain, but his public, less-than-enthusiastic response to Israel’s accomplishments is somewhat disappointing.
Israel is doing the world’s work; show some appreciation!
5. Isn’t France the worst?
French President Emmanuel Macron surprised nobody with his reaction to the war, saying that Israel had the right to defend itself and ensure its security (don’t you hate it when someone says that?), then adding, like a true appeasing Frenchman, “To avoid jeopardizing the stability of the entire region, I call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to de-escalate.”But France’s true colors emerged on Monday when it blocked off Israel’s offensive weapons display at the Paris exhibition of one of the largest weapons technology conferences in the world. According to the Defense Ministry, France built large black walls around Israel’s offensive weapons displays under the cover of night between Sunday and Monday.
Are Macron and his country so afraid of their radical population that they can’t take a stand on the side of good vs evil? I guess that’s another rhetorical question.
