(Tel Aviv, Israel) — After weeks of a fragile cease-fire that only “ceased fire” on paper, the fighting has reignited.
How did we get here? It didn’t start with Israel. It restarted in Lebanon through Iran’s forward army, Hezbollah, its proxy directly to Israel’s north. Hezbollah has been firing daily missiles and small explosive drones into northern Israel, killing close to 20 Israeli soldiers—even inside a security zone.
Israel warned Lebanon: get Iran and its henchmen under control. But Hezbollah continued launching attacks. So Israel did what Israel must do. They hit back, and they hit back hard. The IDF targeted a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut.
Iran cautioned that any strike on its terror proxy in Beirut would trigger a response from the Islamic Republic. That’s where we are.
For the first time since April, Iran has been firing multiple rounds of missiles directly at Israel. Israel’s Iron Dome and state-of-the-art air defenses did their job. None of those ballistic missiles from Iran, or even the few that were fired by the Houthis in Yemen, hit.
After multiple attacks from Iran’s proxy, Israel is defending itself. That is the reason for the reignition of fighting.
Israel had to act. Why did it have to act? Well, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it in principle a few weeks ago: “If you fire at a U.S. Navy ship, what are we supposed to do? Say, oh, there’s a ceasefire, we’re not going to shoot down your drone? That’s a stupid question. That’s a stupid position to take. Of course we fired back at them. They were shooting at us. That’s what I would expect to do. Only stupid countries don’t shoot back when you’re shot at, and we’re not a stupid country.”
Israel isn’t a stupid country either.
President Trump is now saying that both Israel and Iran must immediately stop shooting. I’m sure you’ve heard about the reported “tiff” between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump.
The American President remains very popular in the Jewish State, but the Israeli people are starting to become restless.
During the 12-day war in June last year, the United States and Israel pummeled the Iranian regime, weakened its nuclear sites, killed IRGC terror commanders one after another, and eliminated Iranian scientists working on the bomb. Operation Epic Fury delivered an even further degradation of the Iranian regime, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the elimination of the Iranian Navy, the air force, and even the Supreme Leader himself. Then about eight weeks ago, things stopped.
The president has continued speaking about a deal. The only problem is the Islamic regime doesn’t seem to want a deal and doesn’t appear desperate to come to the table, despite losing $500 million a day from the closure in the strait.
It’s Trump, who appears to want the deal the most. What do we know about negotiations? The side that is most desperate to make a deal is usually the side that loses.
Where do we go from here?
President Trump says that Prime Minister Netanyahu will accept whatever deal his administration makes. Maybe, maybe not. Netanyahu could see the approaching November midterm elections in America and even Israeli elections in October, and declare that this is the moment for a new Israeli Independence Day.
Netanyahu knows that there is a growing number of congressmembers who want to reduce Israel’s dependence on the United States. Both the Prime Minister and Israel as a whole agree. We want the same thing.
In 1948, independence meant Israel would become a country—a new Independence Day means Israel gets to hit, and hit back hard, against any threat that thinks Israel shouldn’t be one.
