National Review
An Israeli air-force strike inside Syria killed two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps generals, including one of the architects of the October 7 massacre. Iran spent several days telegraphing its intention to attack Israel directly in response. Then it launched over 300 suicide drones and missiles, both ballistic and cruise, toward Israel.
Almost all the ordnance that Iran launched failed or was intercepted before it could penetrate Israeli airspace. Jerusalem was aided in that spectacular operation by its Western allies, the U.S., the U.K., and France among them, and by its Middle Eastern partners, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The coalition arrayed in Israel’s defense is almost as wondrous as the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies are threatening. Nevertheless, the direct attack on Israel from Iranian territory was unprecedented. Until we hear otherwise from either party to this conflict, a state of war exists today between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Jewish state is obliged to reestablish deterrence to stave off future similar attacks.
That prospect does not sit well with Israel’s Western allies. President Joe Biden reportedly told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “take the win” and stand down. British foreign secretary David Cameron agreed. “I think this is a time to think with head as well as heart and to be smart as well as tough,” he said. “We’re advising them to take a breath before responding,” an unnamed U.S. official told Politico. Indeed, the whole point of the West’s intervention in Israel’s behalf was to relieve pressure on Jerusalem so that it would not feel “compelled to come back with another overwhelming response and we can de-escalate and be done,” another official told Politico.
It’s unlikely the Israelis believe they are so secure that they can afford to all but ignore this brazen act of war. Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine a polity anywhere on earth that would take a similar attack in stride. To advance the notion that Jerusalem can afford to brush off this assault—which, one U.S. official told Semafor, was designed to culminate in “mass casualties and infrastructure damage”—media outlets have cited military experts who claim Iran’s attack was “designed to fail.” It is highly unlikely that the Iranian mullahs expended all this ordnance only so that their regime would be humiliated on the world stage. In all likelihood, this attack was intended to overwhelm Israeli air defenses and kill as many Jews as possible, thereby advancing the objectives that Iran’s terrorist proxies have feverishly pursued since October 7.
Israel cannot allow direct Iranian missile strikes on Israeli territory to become background noise. It will have to impose consequences on Iran to deter similar attacks in the future—attacks that may be far more successful next time. That might frustrate Israel’s Western partners, but their national survival is not on the line. Israel’s is.