The US must not obstruct necessary Israeli retaliation
The Islamic Republic of Iran has launched an unprecedented attack on Israel. It is now up to Israel to strike back and restore deterrence. Having overseen the collapse of American credibility in the region, Washington must not stand in the way of Jerusalem’s response.
On Saturday, the Islamic Republic fired hundreds of drones, rockets, and missiles at the Jewish state. Tehran’s assault marks a significant escalation. Previously, the Iranian regime has hidden behind its army of proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen, among others. A direct launch from Iran, particularly on this scale, is a noteworthy departure.
The bombardment follows an alleged Israeli strike near a Damascus Consulate that killed top operatives of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist entity. And it comes on the heels of more than six months of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned that the regime would respond to the Damascus strike. But it is revealing that Tehran felt emboldened enough to not only respond, but to launch hundreds of missiles from Iran into Israeli territory.
To be sure, Iranian proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad have launched rockets at the Jewish state on numerous occasions — including in recent months. But this is the first occasion in which a barrage of that size was fired from Iranian soil. Indeed, it is the first time that a U.N. member state has done so since 1991 when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein shot SCUD missiles at Israel. The stakes are high.
The Iranian regime is actively seeking nuclear weapons. The recent attack on Israel, coupled with Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, should leave little question what the Islamic Republic will do if it acquires nukes. The chief commander of the IRGC, Hossein Salami, warned: “We have decided to create a new equation [with Israel].” Jerusalem can’t let them.
Iran seeks to destroy Israel, vanquish the United States, and become the regional superpower. Tehran’s recent attack further illustrates that Washington has lost the ability to deter Iran. Indeed, it’s unclear if the Biden administration is even interested in doing so.
According to Axios’s Barak Ravid, President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. wouldn’t support an Israeli counterattack on Iran. Pointing to the hugely successful interceptions of the vast majority of Iranian drones and missiles by Israeli and U.S. missile defense forces, Biden reportedly said: “You got a win. Take the win.” If true, the move is but the latest in a long line of policy decisions that have only served to embolden Iran.
In October 2023, for example, the Biden administration let missile restrictions on Iran expire without action. The wisdom of that decision was made clear on Saturday night.
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Indeed, at nearly every turn, the White House has sought to appease Iran, virtually ending sanctions enforcement, and removing foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designations that were leveled at the Houthis. Iranian attacks on U.S. forces in the region have also been widely ignored by the Biden administration. Iranian plots to assassinate U.S. public servants on American soil have also failed to dent the administration’s attempts to placate the regime.
Top line: Iran is running roughshod over the United States. Israel’s failure to restore deterrence will only encourage more attacks. Israel must be willing to do what the Biden administration can’t — or won’t — do. The future of the Jewish state depends on it. So too, does the future of the American interests in the Middle East — whether the Biden administration realizes it or not.
The writer is a Senior Research Analyst for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis
