The messages keep coming: in \u201chow are you\u201d; \u201care your kids safe?\u201d Most moving, because we had to cancel our neighborhood minyan Friday night and Shabbat, a friend from New Jersey promised to pray with all of us \u201cin mind.\u201d But much as we in Israel appreciate all this love and support. It\u2019s not what we need. My friends, in America, Canada, the UK, Australia, France, Argentina, and the rest of the world, this is your moment, too. Are you ready to stand up for Israel, the Jewish people, and Western civilization against Iran\u2019s genocidal, nuclear-hungry, sexist, homophobic, anti-democratic, Jihadist dictatorship \u2013 or not?<\/p>\n
Of course, we in Israel are doing what we need to do. Our pilots, our, ahem, spies, our amazing army, are doing what America and the West should have been doing \u2013 which is teaching Iran and the world that rogue states shouldn\u2019t go nuclear, especially when they threaten other states with genocide and spread terror globally. And, far from this battlefront, our home front is strong, determined, united. This morning, on Jerusalem\u2019s Emek Refaim, the coffee shops were busy, not just the \u201cessential\u201d services like grocery stores and pharmacies. And the wedding we were invited to at 10:30 AM was postponed to 3 PM \u2013 for must of us to watch on Zoom. But, boy, the energy, the joy, the optimism, popped through our screen and sent us soaring.<\/p>\n
But, beware \u2013 there\u2019s an anti-Israel storm coming. Of course, it\u2019s been brewing, but it will get worse. Consider the first opinion column American Jewry\u2019s holy bible, the New York Times, published. Called \u201cWill Trump Show Restraint in the Middle East\u201d by the usually- thoughtful Nicholas Kristof, it showed just how much work each of you needs to do, to defend the Jewish state on this war\u2019s 8th front \u2013 the war for Israel\u2019s reputation \u2013 and, I add, for moral clarity as well as a healthy world.<\/p>\n
Kristof starts, not by saying \u201cIsrael\u201d attacked \u2013 in a justified, long overdue, attack \u2013 but that the hated \u201cPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has bombed Iran in what may lead to yet another war in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most outrageously, ahistorically, Kristof wrote that \u201cNetanyahu justified his latest military campaign by saying that Iran was a \u2018clear and present danger.\u2019 \u2026 But a key reason for Iran\u2019s increasingly dangerous course was the past colossal misjudgments by Netanyahu and Trump in their dealings with Iran. With strong backing from Netanyahu, Trump in 2018 pulled out of the nuclear agreement that President Barack Obama had reached that largely contained Iran\u2019s nuclear program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wow. Better do your homework and eat your wheaties. Kristof is rewriting history, trusting that BDS and TDS \u2013 Bibi Derangement Syndrome and Trump Derangement Syndrome \u2013 will bypass your brains, hearts, and souls.<\/p>\n
First, Kristof neglects this war\u2019s true cause\u2013 that after repeatedly threatening Israel, encouraging terrorists to attack it, and destabilizing the region, Iran launched two separate ballistic missile attacks against Israel. What country absorbs over 500 missiles from an evil adversary that promises more \u2013 and says, \u201cthanks so much, we\u2019ll \u2018take the win,\u2019 because we didn\u2019t absorb the kind of losses of people and property you tried imposing on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second, the weasel words \u201cNetanyahu justified his latest military campaign\u201d are a modern-day blood libel \u2013 and I don\u2019t use that phrase lightly. It implies that the bloodthirsty Bibi and his primitive Israelis are just collecting wars and skulls. It ignores the October 7th rampage, the Hezbollah bombings, the Houthi attacks, and the ongoing Palestinian terrorist attacks inside and outside Gaza \u2013 often bankrolled and orchestrated by Iran. Most Israelis feel that Netanyahu failed to address these threats early enough. He dodged one military campaign after another.<\/p>\n
Third, we can debate Barack Obama\u2019s JCPOA \u2013 which was an A \u2013 an agreement \u2014 because he couldn\u2019t make it a T \u2013 a treaty that would pass the Senate. But, there was no excuse for America to send Iran millions of dollars that fueled terrorists who raped and pillaged.<\/p>\n
Finally, unknowingly raising a major issue Americans must face, Kristof writes that \u201cthe best way Trump can protect\u201d America\u2019s soldiers and embassies in the region \u201cis to stay out of this fight and try to resurrect a nuclear deal.\u201d Trump tried \u2013 and failed. Obama tried \u2013 and the Iranians cheated while making mayhem. America must stop being scared of paper tigers like Iran and start leading the world again. And Americans must understand that, sometimes, especially when facing maniacal Jihadi dictators, a little bit of short-term war is the best way to get a whole lot of long-term peace.<\/p>\n
So, my friends, here is your mission \u2013 and you really, really need to accept it.<\/p>\n
Learn the facts \u2013 and spread these truths \u2013 which are not talking points:<\/p>\n
Iran instigated this conflict, repeatedly over twenty years, with genocidal threats, which provides sufficient justification for a just war.<\/p>\n
This was not a \u201cpre-emptive\u201d strike because Iran bombarded Israel with over 500 ballistic missiles, twice \u2013 and has vowed to do it again.<\/p>\n
Israel isn\u2019t being \u2013 with apologies to Bob Dylan \u2013 the \u201cneighborhood bully\u201d but \u201cthe world\u2019s watchmen \u2013 or sanitation engineers \u2013 doing today what America and the West should have done years ago. Especially, after the April 13-14th attacks, America should have hit Iran, hard \u2013 not to defend Israel, but to save Taiwan from China by showing strength and determination.<\/p>\n
This war has nothing to do with Palestinians, the occupation preoccupation, settlements, or even Gaza \u2013 except that October 7, like 9\/11, illustrated what happens when you downplay genocidal jihadist threats.<\/p>\n
In short, Israel has once again proved its worth to the world and to America \u2013 in the most \u201ctransactional way. \u201d Israel should be thanked by Democrats and Republicans, by Americans, Canadians, Brits, Australians, Europeans, South Americans \u2013 and peace-loving Arabs as well as Iranians, most of whom hate the mullahs\u2019 aggressive, oppressive, regime.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t care if you hate Trump and Bibi, and are fed up with Israel\u2019s Gaza War. In fact, those of you who have those positions have added credibility in what must become the biggest, bravest, boldest campaign of your lives. Thank the President and the Republican incumbents \u2013 as a usual critic \u2013 for supporting Israel at this moment, and encourage more because this is a marathon, for the sake of the West and for peace, not just Israel. And reach out to the usual Bash Israel Firsters or the growing corps of Israel-skeptics \u2013 especially if you ally with them and vote with them on other issues. Then explain, in your language, with your shared values, why defeating a human-rights-abusing theocracy saved us all.<\/p>\n
You must take the lead here \u2013 and take risks. Risk friendships. Risk your usual comforts. Risk your reputations. You\u2019ll discover there are many more people out there cheering for Israel, who can distinguish between democratic though imperfect Israel and Iran\u2019s perfectly evil dictatorship oppressing their own proud Persian people. More important, by standing strong, you will pass the mirror test \u2013 liking the hero, the leader, the clear-eyed prophet you see in the mirror. And you will pass the most basic history test: you will stand on the right side of history, and help Israel defend itself \u2013 and the rest of the world too.<\/p>\n