The timing was impeccable.
My synagogue had just finished reading Parshat Zachor, the excerpt from the Torah remembering biblical Amalek’s attack on the Israelites after they fled Egypt.
The Red Alert siren then blared through my neighborhood in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, piercing the quiet air of the holy Sabbath.
Immediately, I understood we were at war.
It is read annually before Purim, the holiday commemorating the Jewish salvation led by Queen Esther from the plot to destroy the Jews at the hand of the evil Persian adviser Haman. Zachor means “remember.”
The Torah commands the Jewish people to read this excerpt and to remember when their ancestors were attacked by a cruel enemy seeking their complete destruction.
It is this solemn commandment combined with Jewish history that contributes to the guiding Israeli principle of never being defenseless in the face of enemies who seek the obliteration of the Jewish people.
Israel maintains its foundational promise
In launching Operation Roaring Lion against the Iranian regime, which for decades has sought Israel’s annihilation and attacked Jews around the world, Israel maintained its foundational promise that it will never allow an existential threat to rise up against the Jewish people.
But this operation is more than just Jewish military resolve in the face of a genocidal enemy.
It showcases the unbreakable United States-Israel relationship.
These two allies are currently exhibiting a masterstroke in projecting the shared values that make them lights unto the rest of the world.
The Iranian people, oppressed by the tyrannical ayatollah regime for 47 years, cried out for help.
Israel and the United States heard their cry and acted.
When I was an adviser to the Israeli ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, I saw time and again how Israel and the United States stood shoulder-to-shoulder both publicly and behind-the-scenes.
On a bilateral level, there is an incredible amount of cooperation and coordination on a variety of matters: some simple, others more complex.
On a multilateral level, the uniqueness of the relationship is unparalleled. Despite slanderous attacks against Israel in the Security Council and other UN forums – and many General Assembly votes where Israel and the US are vastly outnumbered, often by countries with appalling human rights records – these two proud democracies stand unrelentingly true to their values.
And in doing so, they earn the respect of nations and peoples around the world.
The current operation is yet another display of America and Israel’s shared values to uphold freedom and justice for all.
It is not easy for me and my wife to explain to our young children why we must run to the secure room in our apartment when the siren goes off or why school and synagogue attendance is prohibited during what was supposed to be a festive holiday week.
But when we explain that the brave and heroic Israeli soldiers are fighting alongside the brave and heroic American soldiers, defending the Jewish state and helping the Iranian people, we feel a sense of immense pride to be citizens of both countries.
I’m proud to be an Israeli-American: American by birth, Israeli by choice.
As the Israeli lion roars alongside the Stars and Stripes, fighting for justice in the skies over Iran, I pray that the
Persian lion returns, harkening back to a time when Iran was a close ally of both Israel and the United States.
May God protect all our soldiers and give the Iranian people strength to take back their country.
The author, a PhD candidate in political science at Bar-Ilan University, is a former adviser to Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and the United States.