I’ve been experiencing a series of flashbacks lately. It might be my age, or it might be The Situation – the feeling that the world is perilously spinning ever faster. Whether or not age brings wisdom is debatable, but it brings the benefits of experience.
So, here I am, facing an old-new dilemma. In January 1991, as then-editor of In Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post’s local supplement, the imminent outbreak of the First Gulf War presented me with an unforgettable challenge: The paper went to press just after the January 15 deadline for Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait expired, and I had to take into account that by the time readers picked up a copy on Friday, the country could be at war. And not just any war – a war in which Saddam Hussein might throw nonconventional weapons at us, instead of restricting them to the Kurds and his own people.
I had to decide what the cover story would be – assuming it would be printed and there would still be readers. (For the record, the paper was printed and distributed after a delay of a few hours after the first Scud attacks on Israel.)
Ultimately, I had the inspired idea of sending a reporter to interview a psychologist on how to cope with stress. The main tip, “Don’t worry about things that are beyond your control,” remains with me and has served me well during the many, many subsequent wars and waves of terrorism.
Ahead of that January 15 deadline, I attended an “end of the world” party mainly with other journalists, the cynical breed that we are. This week, I was reminded of that party in the home of Ron Kampeas, today with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. I’m less blase about the risks of war now – I’m older; I’ve seen real losses; and I have a combat soldier son in the reserves. But I still think the “Don’t panic” slogan of both the British comedy series Dad’s Army and Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the only sensible option.
SOME FRIENDS were paralyzed this week by the fear of an Iranian response to the elimination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. It was an achievement requiring immense intelligence and operational skills and has been widely attributed to Israel, especially as it came within 24 hours of Israel eliminating Hezbollah’s No. 2, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut.
Other friends are more pragmatic and are doing what Israelis do best: Adapt and carry on. It’s not as though Iran or its terrorist proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis need an excuse to attack Israel – or the West.
At a Shabbat lunch with friends last week, the conversation centered not on local events but on the horrendous wave of antisemitic attacks in places ranging from Melbourne to Toronto, where a Jewish school bus and school building had been set on fire. Violent rallies and chants of “Intifada, revolution” are taking place in major Western cities by terrorist supporters wrapped in keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags.
The threat is not to Israel but to the West at large. And a police response warning Jews to stay away for their own safety “is not helpful,” to borrow a phrase from US President Joe Biden and others after the Haniyeh elimination. Incidentally, following the terrible right-wing race riots in the UK, I’m waiting to see Biden issue sanctions on the individuals involved and for the UN to hold a special session – you know, like what would happen if the thugs had been Israeli Jews.
When I went shopping this week, I saw no evidence of panic buying. The people on the line complained about the usual things: the prices, the heatwave, and the challenges of keeping young children amused during the summer vacation. Some were concerned about the havoc caused to vacation plans as international airlines gave into fear – terrorism – and canceled flights to Tel Aviv.
What struck me was not the worry about the current hostilities but a reminder of ancient times. Next week, the Jewish people mark Tisha B’Av, the 9th of Av, the date when the First and Second Temples were destroyed. It’s a day of mourning, fasting, praying, and reading the biblical Book of Lamentations. Among the mourning practices is the abstinence from wearing leather shoes, hence Jerusalem stores this time of year offer sales on plastic footwear. It’s a reminder of both the ancient loss and the modern revival of the Jewish homeland.
On the worst day possible
There has been much media speculation that Iran will choose to attack the Jewish state on Tisha B’Av, because of the perceived psychological impact, symbolism, and vulnerability. In October 1973, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the Arab world launched (yet another) war aimed at annihilating Israel; 50 years later, almost to the day, when Hamas invaded southern Israel – murdering, raping, burning, and abducting – it was on Simchat Torah, a festival of rejoicing.
In April, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and killer drones on Israel. Thanks in part to an extraordinary alliance that included the US, France, Jordan, and reportedly some Gulf States, the damage was less than the Shi’ite ayatollahs had dreamed of: A young Bedouin girl was severely wounded in her home in the Negev (she was recently released from the hospital) and there was some minor damage to a military base.
The strike, however, wasn’t a complete waste of time for Iran – they learned certain facts about capabilities and possibilities for the future. I’m not complacent. Instead of wagging a finger and warning Tehran about hitting Israel, world leaders should be taking active measures against Iran.
It is not Israel that is escalating the conflict: Iran sponsors the terrorists who on October 7 perpetrated their mega-atrocity on Israel. Iran supplies the weapons – rockets that are still being launched at Israel. Iran backs the Houthis who attack international shipping.
Israel cannot stand alone in the fight. It is not Israel’s fight alone. When the world powers allow the Islamic Republic of Iran to access billions of dollars that it uses to fund its terrorist proxies and enable it to remain on the threshold of military nuclear capability, calls for restraint make a hollow echoing sound. Threatening Israel with arms sanctions does not deter Tehran.
In the First Gulf War, then-prime minister Yitzhak Shamir acquiesced to American calls for “restraint” – something he later described as being one of the toughest decisions he had to make – and the US provided Israel with Patriot anti-missile systems, the less sophisticated precursor of the jointly developed Iron Dome system. Shamir’s restraint earned him passing praise, but it is now clear that it was the decision by Menachem Begin to bomb Iraq’s nascent nuclear reactor in 1981 that kept us safer during the war.
For decades, Israel has been warning of the dangers emanating from Tehran. Too often, it was dismissed as an obsession of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his own purposes. An “axis of evil” has developed in the meantime – Iran, Russia, China, and to a lesser extent North Korea. These are the countries that support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine; China’s threats to democratic Taiwan and the South Sea; and Iran’s expansion throughout the Middle East. Iran, Russia, and China have each expanded their borders in their own way, physically, diplomatically, and economically.
Writing in the Free Press last week, Bari Weiss published an opinion piece titled: “Evan Gershkovich’s freedom – and the forever war against tyrants.” It followed the major East-West prisoner exchange that saw Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, among others, released from Russian jails.
“On one side of the swap: terrorists, killers, and spies. On the other: dissidents, journalists, and prisoners of conscience,” Weiss wrote. Summing up the dilemmas and problematic nature of the deal, she asked: “But what if defeating evil looks like giving in to it?”
This week, Israel and its supporters marked the fifth birthday of Ariel Bibas, abducted from his home on October 7 together with his baby brother Kfir and mother Shiri, while his father was taken hostage separately. They all remain captive in Gaza, their fate unknown. The pain is almost palpable.
I don’t know what the state of the world will be by the time you read this, but I do know that acting against terrorists and their state sponsors is the right thing – the only thing – to do. Restraint is an admirable trait in a fight in a school playground. It is not a strategy to ensure survival in the global arena.