Israel does not need your permission to defend itself.
“If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”
Please consider supporting our mission to help everyone better understand and become smarter about the Jewish world. A gift of any amount helps keep our platform free of advertising and accessible to all.
On Tuesday evening, the Islamic Republic of Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles at Israel, sending Israelis across the country to bomb shelters.
It was reminiscent of the April 2024 Iranian attack on Israel that included 185 drones, 110 surface-to-surface missiles, and 36 cruise missiles.
Iran unleashed the most recent barrage purportedly in response to two high-level Israeli assassinations: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil in July, and Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime head of Hezbollah (Iran’s proverbial baby), in the heart of Beirut last Friday.
I suppose this is a fair response by Iran, but do you know what else is fair game Whatever retaliation we Israelis deem appropriate to ensure our sovereignty and safety is upheld, according to us Israelis — and only us Israelis.
Much has been made about Israel’s “right to defend itself” following the Hamas-led massacres and kidnappings on October 7th, sparking a war that Hezbollah joined, unprovoked, just one day later. This week, as Israel commenced its ground incursion into southern Lebanon to dismantle the Hezbollah threat there, a White House National Security Council spokesperson again muttered the now-clichéd words: These operations are “in line with Israel’s right to defend its citizens.”1
Excuse my chutzpah, but: No sh*t, Sherlock. Israel does not need anyone’s permission or approval to defend itself. The idea is laughable. And still, Israel is expected to jump through diplomatic and geopolitical hoops while rockets rain down on its cities and terrorism on its residents.
Let’s examine a similar and timely scenario: After Russia invaded Ukraine 2022, the Ukrainians were praised worldwide for defending themselves and their country seemingly at all costs. No legitimate third party has branded Ukraine’s self-defense with “war crimes,” “genocide,” or “disproportionate” even as the Ukrainians have taken the fight into Russian territory.
But when it comes to the Jewish state known as Israel — keyword: Jewish — suddenly, self-defense comes with all sorts of fine print and strings attached.
For those less knowledgeable about or familiar with war, let’s review a quick lesson in self-defense. It has two components: dealing with the immediate threat to neutralize it, and then promptly establishing deterrence, so the antagonist thinks long and hard about provoking another war in the future.
Most Israelis are pro-peace, but you cannot be pro-peace if you are dead or if you are constantly under attack (as has been the case for Jews in the Land of Israel for thousands of years, most recently by Arabs since the 1800s). Therefore, ensuring safety and security is paramount for any nation. A robust defense strategy is essential not only for immediate survival but also for maintaining long-term peace and stability.
So-called “critics” often portray Israel as the aggressor, conveniently ignoring the constant bombardment of Palestinian terrorism (often sponsored by Iran and Qatar) that Israelis endure. These “critics” pontificate from their safe, comfortable countries, where their biggest threats are likely to be traffic jams on their morning commutes. It is easy to preach restraint from a distance, but it is a different story when your children are huddling in bomb shelters like millions of Israelis did tonight during the Iranian attack.
Self-defense is a fundamental right of any nation, and Israel is no exception. The idea that Israel needs to justify defending its citizens is not only absurd but morally bankrupt. Every country has the right to protect its people, and expecting Israel to act differently is a blatant form of discrimination.
When Israel targets terrorists, destroys rocket launch sites, or takes out weapons factories, it is not an act of aggression. It is a necessary act of defense. The fact that Israel’s enemies use human shields and hide their military assets within civilian infrastructure to maximize casualties is unfortunate; it is also cowardly. In the same way that you should not smoke if you do not want lung cancer, you should not use human shields and hide your military assets within civilian infrastructure if you do not want civilian deaths.
But this is exactly the point: Islamist militants are trained to maximize civilian deaths because they know that Israel will largely be blamed for them, and because Islam celebrates “martyrs” — Muslims who sacrifice their lives for the sake of their religion.
As Golda Meir, the former Israeli prime minister, used to say:
“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
I recently read an article in which a Westerner wrote, “I imagine that the Palestinians also love their children” — a passive-aggressive way of arguing that Israel is indiscriminately killing Palestinian children, as if such is formal IDF policy. While well-intentioned, this writer demonstrates widespread incompetence in the West concerning Arab and Muslim culture, which is diametrically opposed to Western values, customs, and norms.
No country and people in the West (including Israel) uses human shields, hides their military assets within civilian infrastructure, and deliberately aims to elevate the number of civilian casualties, yet many supposed Westerners are advocating for the anti-Western enemy against Israel — a supreme act of self-sabotage. Or they are simply antisemitic, if not in intention then in outcome.
Imagine how much you have to loathe Jews to root against your own livelihood. If only intervention existed for antisemites.
The irony in all of this is that the Jews are engaged in the most moral and just fight against adversaries who want to enslave the Western world and then obliterate it. “The Enlightenment” aimed to make us smarter, but many Westerners are too stupid to realize that Israel is defending the frontlines in this war of civilizations: the West versus Islamism.
Anyone who thinks the Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran war is territorial or economic is extremely uneducated. This conflict is deeply rooted in ideological and religious animosities that date back generations. It is not simply about land or resources; it is about existential beliefs and identities. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are not merely resisting Israeli policies; they reject the Jewish state’s very existence. Their stated goals include the destruction of the Jewish state and the eradication of Jewish sovereignty in the region.
Territorial disputes are often used as a pretext, but the underlying motivations are far more profound and sinister. This is a war of ideologies, where radical Islamist factions seek to impose their hegemonic vision of a Middle East devoid of Israel. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran do not just oppose Israeli policies; they oppose the Jewish people’s right to self-determination entirely. This ideological battle fuels their relentless aggression, making any peaceful resolution incredibly complex and elusive.
As Golda Meir, Israel’s prime minister from 1969 to 1974, put it:
“We’re not the only people in the world who’ve had difficulties with neighbors; that has happened to many. We are the only country in the world whose neighbors do not say, ‘We are going to war because we want a certain piece of land from Israel,’ or waterways or anything of that kind.”
“We’re the only people in the world where our neighbors openly announce they just won’t have us here. And they will not give up fighting and they will not give up war as long as we remain alive. Here.”
Moreover, Iran’s involvement is not driven by territorial ambitions but by a desire to expand its influence and spread its Islamic-driven revolutionary ideology. There is a reason why Islamists changed Iran’s name to the “Islamic Republic of Iran” after they hijacked the country in 1979 — marking a major shift in its political structure, foreign policy, legal system, and culture.
Since then, Tehran has used proxy groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Yemen-based Houthis to destabilize the region, challenge Western influence, and assert its dominance. The financial and military support Iran provides to these groups underscores its commitment to this ideological struggle. It is a strategy designed to perpetuate conflict, ensuring that Israel (the most convenient Western target in the Middle East) remains under constant threat and the region remains in turmoil.
Economic factors, while present, are secondary to the primary goal of obliterating Israel. The conflict’s persistence and intensity can only be understood through this lens of deep-seated hatred and ideological warfare. This is why peace processes falter. They fail to address the fundamental issue: an undying refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Until the ideological roots of this conflict are addressed, Israel will have to continue defending itself however it sees fit — regardless if the rest of the world likes it or not.
Or, as Golda Meir so eloquently put it: “If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”
“White House: IDF raids in Lebanon ‘in line with Israel’s right to defend citizens’.” Times of Israel.
"The idea that Israel needs to justify defending its citizens is not only absurd but morally bankrupt. Every country has the right to protect its people, and expecting Israel to act differently is a blatant form of discrimination."
Yes but double standards are OK when it comes to Jews. And discrimination is not discrimination when it comes to Jews. We're just so sensitive, we fly off the handle at the least little thing. Nobody meant anything by it, they *said* they were allowing us to defend ourselves! Just as long as we don't defend ourselves too well.
Because to doubt whether Israel has the right to defend itself reveals that what you really doubt is the fact that Israel has the right to exist, and that reveals the fact that you really doubt that Jews have the right to exist.
The hypocrisy is so tiresome. At least the Islamists are honest that they want to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. The West wants to too but they don't want to feel guilty about it.
I wish the so-called supporting nations of Israel, including my own, Canada, would be honest. They say Israel has the right to defend their own, but they really don't give a damn. Our anti-Israel, pro-Hamas government is to9 worried about "protecting" the growing Muslim population, many of who danced in the streets on Oct. 7. In the name of "liberal diversity, etc., the government leaders "demand" Israel to give the Arabs as state. They had many opportunities in the past 75 years to have a state, but they don't want a state, they want the entire area. That is in spite of the Koran that states that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jews. I fear for my children and the generations of those who have even one tiny drop of Jewish blood in their veins, as the next Holocaust could be the end of Judaism on the face of the earth. The one people whose faith created the means by which we should be living, enjoying the earth, learning, developing and making peace. We love life, unfortunately our enemies love death and martyrdom. Am Yisrael Chai. Shana Tova. 5785!!!