Iran is winning this war.
Of course, this view is from a strategic, not a tactical perspective. Every immoral attack Iran and its proxies have launched on and since October 7 has been roundly defeated or successfully defended.
But Iran is not looking for tactical victory; their singular desire is to turn the entire world against Israel. They are succeeding in this endeavor. Americans must acknowledge this reality and fight back; we are at a tipping point.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in southern Israel was not about capturing or holding land; it was about unleashing Iran’s greatest weapon, antisemitism. The Mullahs rightly discerned the corruption of postmodern neo-Marxist Western ideology.
And so Israel finds itself in yet another existential crisis. The main difference now is that America and the entire West find themselves similarly, if not yet kinetically threatened. The deceptive ideology that has infected much of Western education and politics is apparent.
Cries of “never again” only a few years ago have morphed into ugly demands to exterminate the Jews and accompanying cheers of “death to America” on US streets and campus commons. The rot that has infected Ivy League colleges is spreading, and the West can no longer ignore it. History will not judge kindly this era of neo-Jew hate.
The defining nightmare of the 20th century was the attempted Jewish pogrom. Prolific books and media are rightly dedicated to the subject of the World War II Holocaust. Even greater mass killings overseen by notorious leaders in Russia, China, and Japan get a “pass” when historically compared to Himmler and Eichmann’s Final Solution. In this insane modern moment, we have forgotten.
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The moral differences between Israel and Iran could not be more explicit. Almost every attack by Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and now Iran has been aimed at noncombatant civilian targets, a clear violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which all members of the United Nations, Including Iran, have ratified.
In contrast, Israel has exercised necessary and even, in some cases, excessive restraint in their combat operations. As is common in war, tactical mistakes have occurred, which they have acknowledged. But contrary to loaded press reports, Israel has carefully waged a defensive war exclusively and impressively focused on military targets and Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leadership.
The most notable of these attacks was in early April on a building located next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus. This precise bombing killed seven IRCG leaders, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the architects of the October 7 slaughter.
Iran responded with an unprecedented direct attack on Israel with over 300 drones and missiles, primarily aimed at Israeli population centers. Iran would have known the drones wouldn’t get through; they are ancient technology. Israeli, American, and other cooperating forces were well prepared to shoot these down and did so successfully.
Iran’s real purpose was an operational test of its missile force; once paired with the nuclear weapons Iran is developing, it will take only a few to destroy Israel. These missiles also failed miserably, but Iran and Israel both know this is a temporary setback.
Israel was at a strategic crossroads, and for a few days, the world collectively held its breath to see what form the guaranteed Israeli response would take. Israel brilliantly dialed back the overall tension while establishing clear deterrence with a pinpoint strike on a Russian S-300 air defense battery near Isfahan. Unlike the Iranian attack, this was on a legitimate military target. It demonstrated to Iran that Israel could take down their air defenses at will, leaving Iran’s nuclear development facilities vulnerable.
For the moment, Iran has backed down and resumed its proxy war. Israel seems to be turning its attention back to the necessary destruction of the remaining Hamas forces in Rafa. This is a temporary pause; Israel cannot and will not allow the marriage of a nuclear weapon with Iranian ballistic missiles.
In the meantime, Iran’s overall strategy to unite the world against Israel continues as the virus of antisemitism spreads across the West. Benjamin Netanyahu was correct when he recently stated that antisemitism is the canary in the coal mine. It always precedes larger conflagrations that engulf the entire world.
Those who think the West can sit this one out would be wise to recall Mordecai’s prescient advice to Esther from another time when Persian rulers tried to exterminate the Jews. “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace, you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-16, ESV)
For such a time as this, America must stand unequivocally and completely with Israel.
Dr. David Murphy is a Faculty Fellow at the Centennial Institute and the Dean of Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Adult and Graduate Studies at Colorado Christian University. He served 25 years as an Air Force fighter pilot and Group Commander before retiring in 2014. He writes extensively on national security and domestic policy. The views expressed by the author are his own and do not represent the views of Centennial Institute or Colorado Christian University.
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