Make no mistake, Israel and Iran are still at war.
The two countries don’t have a ceasefire. Whereas a ceasefire has an enforcement mechanism, Israel and Iran just stopped shooting at each other for tactical reasons. At best this is a truce.
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This is a guest essay written by Uri Kurlianchik, an Israeli author.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
Before the war with Hezbollah last year, the alarmists promised us a second Vietnam, tens of thousands of casualties, no water, no electricity, no hospitals, and Nazis riding on dinosaurs in the streets.
Seriously, remember the headlines promising 15,000 casualties if Israel invaded Lebanon?
In the end, it was smooth sailing, exploding pagers, and Hezbollah being decapitated, humiliated, violated, and taken out of the game. The main purpose of the group was to bomb Israel if Israel ever attacked Iran. However, when the time came, they abandoned Iran just like they abandoned Gaza. Their response was limited to a strongly worded statement.
Iran was easier.
During “Operation Rising Lion” (Israel’s term for the just-concluded Israel-Iran war), 28 Israeli civilians were murdered by Iranian missiles, as opposed to 46 murdered by Hezbollah. Some 2,874 buildings and 55,000 acres of nature were damaged by missiles from Lebanon. The northern Israel towns of Metula and Manara have been mostly devastated.
Meanwhile, Iranian attacks have damaged hundreds of buildings and destroyed about a dozen. No damage was inflicted to military targets or vital infrastructure.
In a country that’s like a big family, each loss is felt. Nevertheless, everyone was amazed by how little damage a country 80 times larger than Israel, that supposedly prepared for this war for 40 years, was able to inflict.
On the American side, cowards and traitors like Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Ian forgot-his-name-and-can’t-be-bothered-to-Google-it, and Dave Smith predicted thousands of American casualties and a new “forever war.” In reality, not a single American was harmed and the war ended within hours of American involvement.
The Iranian abilities degraded at an amazing pace, as you can see from the below graph.
With the exception of a single trainee who was killed at home while visiting his family, every single casualty was a civilian. The diversity of the casualties (19 Jews, four Arabs, five foreigners) show they were totally random.
Meanwhile, what did Israel achieve?
Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic missile production were crippled. If that was the sole achievement of the operation, you could have called it an absolute success. However, this is only the start!
Approximately 30 Iranians generals were killed. Basically the entire senior leadership of their military and numerous high-ranking police officers. In some cases, a guy was killed and his replacement was killed within days. Even when they knew the Israeli Air Force was hunting them, they couldn’t hide.
At least 14 so-called “scientists” (in reality, administrators of Iran’s nuclear program) were killed.
More than half of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers were destroyed (about 200).
A thousand ballistic missiles were destroyed on the ground.
Iranian air force and air defenses were obliterated. Israel totally occupied Iran’s skies for almost two weeks.
Dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij (Iranian paramilitary volunteer militia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) bases were destroyed and hundreds of members of both organizations were killed. The Iranians didn’t finish counting their dead yet, but the number is already higher than 1,000. Hopefully it will reach 1,200. You know why.
There’s more, but I’m literally getting tired of winning, so let’s move on.
Except for the military achievements, there have also been some major political and psychological achievements.
Before the war, Israel’s power largely ended at its borders.
Now, it can radiate power thousands of kilometers away and act in Tehran as easily as in Gaza. One of the most amazing things I’ve seen during the war were Iranian squads bombed while preparing to launch missiles at Israel, just like in Gaza and Lebanon. Amazing!
Great nations like Germany and Britain talk to Israel as equals. Germany even said Israel did everyone’s dirty work. Israel is a small country, but the shadow of Israel is vast.
What’s more, the U.S. actively and directly joined the war on Israel’s side. Both the Israeli media and the enemy media keep pushing the narrative that Israel is alone in the world. This is a mortal blow to this false narrative.
At the same time, the Iranian doctrine of keeping the war away from its borders using proxy forces has collapsed. War came to Iran with a vengeance, and even Iran’s crooked media couldn’t hide it from the people.
The Iranian proxies throughout the Middle East, which Iran had been building up for decades precisely for this moment, did not join the campaign; Hezbollah and the Iraqi militias didn’t fire a single missile. Even the Houthis, who prior to the Israel-Iran war were launching missiles at Israel almost every night, only launched two ballistic missiles during the entire war, both at the very start.
Iran learned that when push came to shove, Iran is alone.
So, what didn’t I like?
Many Israelis seem to have forgotten what this war is about. We are not fighting to free the people of Iran; we are fighting to protect the people of Israel. Everything else is secondary.
Because of this, Israel acted under the misguided idea that the Iranian people are not the enemy and took great care to avoid harming or even inconveniencing the population of Iran. This was a mistake.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying Israel should target Iranian civilians. However, the people of Iran should have all felt the war in a way their media couldn’t spin. No water, no electricity, collapsed roads. The war should have affected as many people as possible in order to leave them without appetite for more.
My second issue is the conduct of the government. Like always, when the going gets tough, the tough disappear from the public eye, creating a fertile space for rumors and anxiety. The citizens of Israel having to learn about the truce with Iran from rumors spread by foreign media, from U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media posts, and from the filthy defeatism of Israeli media is an absolute disgrace. This left a sour taste in what should have otherwise been a triumphant feast.
Sadly, this is very typical of this government, which doesn’t respect the people enough to personally deliver news that may be unpopular. The same happened with the ceasefire in Lebanon and after October 7th. When people need to hear them the most, they disappear.
So what’s next?
Israel and Iran don’t have a ceasefire. Whereas a ceasefire has an enforcement mechanism, Israel and Iran just stopped shooting at each other for tactical reasons. At best this is a truce; at worse, a pause to reload.
Unless there is a treaty, Israel can and should launch a new surprise attack on Iran at its earliest convenience. When your enemy is down, that’s when you kick him the hardest, until he taps the mat.
Remember this: Barring a formal ceasefire, we’re still at war.
 | A guest post by
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It is a shame that Islam would rather endlessly attempt to take out Israel. If these insane clerics would permanently disappear then maybe these countries could actually take care of their citizens and make life better for them but these unaccountable so-called "holy men" don't want that. As I've said before here, the Koran is a warrior code similar to Japanese Bushido of WWII.
Islam doesn't do ceasefire