Israel must respond to Iran, her allies must support that response

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Western nations, including the United States, Britain and France, showed support for Israel on Saturday. They moved military assets into position, and their fighter jets and naval ships scrambled to help repel the attack from Iran.

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They worked alongside Jordan and Saudi Arabia, although not Kuwait and Qatar, which refused an American request for jets to enter sovereign airspace.

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By late Saturday, and into Sunday, the tone was changing. Western nations, led by the United States, were willing to help Israel push back against the more than 300 drones, missiles and rockets fired, but they didn’t want Israel to hit back.

President Joe Biden made that clear in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday night. After Sunday’s meeting of G7 leaders, they put it clearly in a statement: Israel should stand down.

“With its actions, Iran has further stepped toward the destabilization of the region and risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation. This must be avoided. We will continue to work to stabilize the situation and avoid further escalation,” the statement read.

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Defend yourself Israel, just don’t hit back when attacked directly by Iran. That’s what the second half of that statement says.

The reason Iran wasn’t successful in their attack was due to the military superiority of Israel and her allies. After this first attack though, Iran has a better understanding of Israel’s defences, they have game tape to watch now and can adjust future attacks, which are surely coming.

Which is why this part of the G7 statement is futile.

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“We demand that Iran and its proxies cease their attacks, and we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilizing initiatives,” the G7 leaders said.

The leadership in Iran isn’t about to stop their attacks on Israel, or have their proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah or the Houthi rebels in Yemen lay down their arms. There is no chance that the Mullahs in Tehran will stop in their mission to provoke what they call the “Big Satan,” meaning America, or the “Little Satan,” meaning Israel.

Israel will need to strike back to diminish Iran’s future capabilities.

“We will build a regional coalition and collect the price from Iran, in the way and at the time that suits us,” Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli War Cabinet, as well as a former defence minister and a retired general, said on Sunday.

That is what Israel must do; it is impossible for her to count on allies with fleeting attention spans to the task at hand.

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Iran was the one of the main sources of funding and support for the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, along with Qatar, which is also exporting death, destruction and destabilization. The regime in Tehran is also the backing force for Hezbollah which attacks Israel from Lebanon and the Houthi rebels which are threatening Israel from Yemen and attacking international shipping lanes.

Between Iran’s air attack late Saturday and their seizure of an Israeli owned ship off the coast of the UAE, there is no question that Tel Aviv must send Tehran a message.

While the Biden administration is stating their steadfast support publicly, until Iran’s air attack, they were pressuring Israel to lose the war against Hamas. After stopping the hundreds of missiles, Biden asked Netanyahu to turn the other cheek to an opponent who only responds to strength.

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The Islamic Republic of Iran is not just a threat to Israel but also a threat to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and, quite frankly, the rest of the world. Their massive stockpile of missiles can hit across southern Europe and into India; their terrorist partners have spread their tentacles around the world.

Israel must deal with Iran after this attack, but it is in the best interests of the Western world and Arab states across the Gulf region to support Israel in this task.

Ignoring the threat Tehran poses won’t make it go away.

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