Hooray for the good guys!
Israel, with the help of allies, took out 99% of the 300-plus attack drones, cruise and ballistic missiles Iran fired at it over the weekend.
It’s a stunning victory!
President Biden and leaders of France, Britain and even Jordan deserve praise for helping to repel the outrageous strike.
Yes, Israelis went through hell, scurrying to shelters late at night, unsure if the missiles and drones would reach them.
Fortunately, only a few did, causing minimal damage — though one 7-year-old, sadly, was seriously injured.
Still, such a massive attack, directly by Iran, might never have happened at all if not for catastrophic Biden administration policy.
Nor can it go unanswered.
And Biden should be backing an Israeli response, not looking to thwart it.
Tehran had vowed to hit the Jewish state after an Israeli airstrike on a Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards hub in Damascus killed a key commander, Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
Zahedi had overseen operations by Hezbollah (essentially, Iran’s military wing in Lebanon) and coordinated with other terror groups.
He’s suspected of having played a role in Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis as well as the drone strike that killed three US soldiers in Jordan.
The media wrongly portray Iran’s strike attack as “retaliation,” but it was Israel’s killing of Zahedi that was retaliation, and a preemptive move to thwart further strikes.
(You could well argue that America itself should’ve taken out that Damascus facility, and Zahedi, after the murder of US soldiers.)
Iran’s weekend barrage was, in fact, escalation, not only because Zahedi had it coming, but because it was launched directly by Iran itself, not by proxies — and, for the first time ever, from its own soil, at Israel’s soil.
Where did Tehran’s leaders get the idea they can get away with such a volatile move?
From the White House — and Democratic critics like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
For months, Biden has scolded Israel for its drive to wipe out Hamas after its Oct. 7 slaughterfest.
He and his team have worked overtime to prevent the Jewish state from attacking Hamas’ remaining battalions in Rafah, citing potential harm to civilians.
Iran saw Washington distancing itself from Jerusalem and figured it wouldn’t back it if attacked.
Tehran also knows Team Biden’s eager to carry out the Obama policy of appeasing Iran in a deranged bid to bolster ties and perhaps reform the mullahs.
Team Obama, recall, provided Iran with tens of billions of dollars, in exchange for a disastrous nuclear deal that, thank goodness, President Donald Trump discarded.
Alas, Biden has tried to revive that deal, and, to that end, he’s allowed Iran to violate sanctions and reap billions in oil sales with impunity.
He’s also freed up billions in additional frozen funds and even let UN sanctions on Iran’s missiles and drones (the kind used in its weekend attack) lapse.
Most troubling, he’s failed to respond meaningfully to attacks and provocations by Iran’s proxies.
After Oct. 7, he told anyone thinking of joining in the attacks, “don’t.”
Yet Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iranian-backed militias nonetheless have launched drones and rockets at Israeli and Western targets almost daily since then.
Last week, amid reports of an imminent Iranian attack, he again warned “don’t.”
Tehran’s answer? Some 300 airborne drones, missiles and rockets from Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Iran itself. Hezbollah fired an additional 30 rockets from Lebanon.
Iran read Biden correctly: Even after such blatant defiance, on Sunday he urged Israel to “pocket the win” and not retaliate, per a White House source. Indeed, US and Western officials reportedly want both Israel and Iran to feel victorious, as a way to deescalate.
Huh? Iran should feel victorious and not suffer reprisals? It’s beyond nuts — and utterly unrealistic.
After undermining Israel for months, Biden should be supporting Israel — no ifs, and or buts — in its response to Iran’s attacks.
Israel will figure out its response on its own, but no nation can let another let such a massive attack go unanswered, even if it manages to prevent great damage.
That would only greenlight more attacks.
Since Oct. 7, Biden’s overriding goal has been to prevent escalation.
This weekend showed he’s failed spectacularly.
He mustn’t stick to the same policy, restraint and appeasement, that caused the failure.
There’s a word for doing so: insanity.
