It has been nearly 100 days since the forces of darkness stormed the land, roaming about for what like seemed an eternity as they ruthlessly murdered and pillaged their way through various parts of southern Israel.
Like the Crusaders in Western Europe in 1096, Bogdan Chmielnicki and the Cossacks in Ukraine in 1648, and Adolf Hitler and the Germans in the mid-20th century, Hamas and its accomplices have reminded the world of the depravity to which human beings can descend, especially when they are driven by hatred of Jews.
And while much of the media has been referring to the conflict now underway as “the Gaza war,” that is a misnomer, and a highly misleading one at that.
Although Gaza may be where most of the fighting is taking place, it is merely one of several fronts where Israel is coming under assault.
Indeed, what we are witnessing is something more far-reaching than a localized armed conflict between the Jewish state and the jihadis of Hamas.
Simply put, Iran is waging war on Israel and America. The ayatollahs may not have formally declared war, but they have clearly and strategically escalated their military campaign versus Washington and Jerusalem.
Rather than continuing to bury its head in the sand, it is time for the Biden administration to recognize this development and to take much stronger action to deter Tehran before things spin out of control.
How Iran is already waging war on Israel and the US
Consider the following: On five separate fronts throughout the region, terrorist groups that are trained, funded, and guided by Iran are attacking Israelis and Americans.
In Gaza, of course, there is Hamas; while in Lebanon, Hezbollah has been shelling northern Israel and firing rockets and anti-tank weapons at civilian homes and military installations.
In Syria, Iranian-backed forces have launched missiles at the Golan; and Shi’ite militias in Syria and Iraq have carried out more than 118 attacks on US military bases and servicemen in just the past three months.
And then there are the Houthis in Yemen, who have fired missiles at Israel while carrying out more than two dozen attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November 18.
On January 4, a day after the US and 13 other countries issued a warning to the Houthis to desist, the rebel terrorist group deliberately sent an unmanned explosive boat in the direction of a US Navy vessel in a clear and defiant act of provocation.
None of these non-state actors – Hamas, Hezbollah, the radical Shi’ite militias in Iraq and Syria, or the Houthi hooligans in Yemen – would dare to undertake such activities without the blessing of their Iranian paymasters.
And the fact that these fronts have all flared up simultaneously indicates that this is a sophisticated and coordinated campaign.
Furthermore, as The New York Times reported on January 7, “though little discussed by the Biden administration, the Iranian nuclear program has suddenly been put on steroids.” Last month, the paper noted, international inspectors revealed that the ayatollahs “initiated a threefold increase in its enrichment of near-bomb-grade uranium,” giving them enough fuel for “at least three atomic weapons.”
Worse yet, American intelligence officials said that the fuel in question could be turned into bomb-grade material within “a few weeks.”
While it is true that Iran has thus far refrained from directly attacking Israel or the US, perhaps to avoid giving them a pretext to strike, Tehran has done just about everything short of that.
Iran is actively flexing its regional muscles and deploying its terrorist legions, thereby calling into question America’s long-standing dominance in the Middle East.
It bears recalling that it was just last summer that Washington made an inane deal with Iran in which it agreed to remove a freeze on the transfer of $6 billion in Iranian assets held in South Korea in exchange for the release of five Americans held hostage.
Just as critics of the deal predicted, it sent a compelling message of US weakness, which Iran has been lustily exploiting ever since.
And yet, despite the harsh reality staring it directly in the face, the Biden administration continues to seek to appease, rather than confront, the tyrants in Tehran.
Incredibly, as the Times earlier this week noted, “In Washington, the concern now is less about a Hezbollah attack on Israel than an Israeli strike on Hezbollah.”
In case you are wondering if that was a typo – it was not.
President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken – who is once again earning lots of frequent-flier miles by visiting the region – are actively dissuading Israel from going after Hezbollah, something they have reportedly done since the start of the conflict in October.
In the past week alone, there have been leaks galore coming out of unnamed US officials to outlets such as The Washington Post and Politico, which carry water for Biden and his cronies, blasting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warning against Israel’s taking action in Lebanon.
Politico even went so far as to suggest that Netanyahu might prolong the war in order to remain in power. This is patently absurd, if only because former defense minister Benny Gantz, who hopes to replace Netanyahu and is a member of the unity government, has said just as forcefully that the war will continue until its goals are met.
INSTEAD OF spending time whispering nasty things to journalists while trying to dissuade Israel from removing the threat along its northern border, the Biden administration would do well to formulate a more cohesive and robust strategy to contain Iran.
The ayatollahs are the puppet masters pulling the strings that are creating widespread death, destruction, and instability throughout the region.
Diplomacy and appeasement have failed, and Iran is now racing toward the nuclear finish line even as it gleefully attacks Israel and the US through its proxies. This cannot be allowed to continue, and it appears that force is the only option to put a halt to the Iranian threat.
The events of October 7 and their aftermath are clearly a turning point in historical terms, one that will reshape the Middle East and the world beyond for generations to come.
It is, of course, too early to tell what the political and societal impact will be or the far-reaching regional and international changes that the conflict may yet bring about.
As Winston Churchill once warned, “Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy or that one who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter.”
But if one thing is clear, Iran has already set in motion a series of lethal and gathering storms. Israel and America must act now before those squalls turn into a tsunami of catastrophic proportions.
The writer served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term of office.