Bottom line: as the rest of the world increasingly turns away from the Lord, Israel is in a unique place to turn toward Him. He's the only hope any of us have these days.
I heard Trump had told Israel to stand down and thought I was hearing things. I checked and found out it was true. Missiles reigning on the people of Israel, and Israel is supposed to sit by quietly. There has been a ping pong game of deal or no deal, ceasefire that never was. It is the same M.O. as Hamas and Gaza, or will be. No disarmament, did not give up power, not a word about the rebuilding of Gaza, per Kushner and Witkoff, or about the Board of Peace. Why is Israel so afraid to be bigger and stronger? What have the Middle Eastern countries ever done for Israel? If a missile hit the US, you can bet Trump's reaction would be very different, but Israel? It's used to being bombarded with rockets, drones, and missiles on a daily basis, Israelis are used to running to shelters on the hour. This is Israel's neighborhood with many hostile, two-faced neighbors who cannot be trusted, ever. If Israel is not allowed to finish the job with Iran and Hezbollah, it will have a bigger mess to clean up again and again. Am Yisrael Chai. Baruch Hashem.
Netanyahu can placate Trump, but he will look weak if he does so while Israel is under attack and that will likely wreck his chances of reelection. So what will he do? Nobody knows for sure, but based on his past behavior, I suspect he will disregard Trump’s pleas and retaliate. What’s Trump going to do about that? Not much unless he wants to look completely ineffective.
Israel has no choice. No other country faces the threat of annihilation as it does. Iran fired missiles at it, not because Israel attacked Iran but because Israel attacked Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah whose own missiles are making Israel’s North uninhabitable thus shrinking the tiny Jewish State even more. Israel has to go all out and remove the Iranian existential threat once and for all. And the Pentagon’s bogus claim that Israel is spying on it is a blood libel. I have no doubt that someone in DOD leaked the nonstory to the non journalistic New York Times. The Trump administration is playing a dangerous game and the risks of losing it are the highest for Israel. A book published after the Six Day War was named STRIKE ZION! Trump will stew, condemn, rage, threaten and use obscenities against Netanyahu. But, at the end of the day AM YISRAEL CHAI. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIVE!
I am not so sure that the war has stopped. Its active kinetic phase has diminished, but the U.S. remains active while Israel continues on against Hezbollah. In fact, it was the IDF attack on the Hezbollah stronghold in Southern Beirut that led to Iran’s launch of 7 ballistic missiles (with none hitting their targets).
Maybe President Trump is having a Biden-like “take the win” moment. But it’s more likely another example of strategic patience that far too many observers have forgotten about: while talks amble on - and we have no idea what is being discussed - the U.S. counter-blockade remains in place and the economic clock is continuing to run down on the Iranian regime’s solvency. And that means that, unlike the multi-year JCPOA and Biden’s failed “longer and stronger JCPOA” negotiations, the regime cannot spin out negotiations with Trump endlessly.
While the Middle East plays by different rules than the West, if my read is correct, the regime will collapse when its minions are not paid and abandon their post. The best option would then be for the regular army to support the Iranian people in delivering the final blow. But no option is guaranteed.
Brilliant analysis. I think Europe is irrelevant, the Arabs want to see the Iranian regime utterly destroyed, and Trump has to work around the American mentally-ill Left wing (may they have a speedy and complete recovery). Yes, Trump may need to be educated a little more about the Islamic mentality. But my hope is Israel and Trump's military are just biding time to appear more dovish than hawkish, and to resupply. And to mark all the targets before striking in very big way. One last thought, maybe the Arabs' real fear is that if Iran's regime is replaced with a democracy, their rule may be threatened.
.. the bulk of the Iranian people want their regime out, but as Joshua Hoffman rightly says, Israel being the most powerful is not ideal to the Arab and Muslim world.
The author quoted two left wing sources to support his contention that America is distancing herself from Israel. That’s just what the left would like to see. I may be wrong but I don’t think that is what is happening. JuT as Iran is playing good cop/ bad cop with America I think that Israel and America are playing good cop/ bad cop with Iran. At the end of the day I don’t think that Trump will allow Iran to make a fool of him bu surviving and starting over again after it recovers. Trump has his legacy to consider not just the midterms. Also, what about the poor Iranian people, is he going to betray them too? As one commentator mentioned the Hajj is on in Saudi Arabia right now. Millions of Muslim pilgrims are in danger. That is also another huge Saudi concern. I think that the kinetic war will resume in the not too distant future if for no other reason than that Iran is consistently refusing to give up her nuclear ambitions and Trump does not want to be another Obama.
Hi Max. We'll argue out this one in shul. Perhaps we can suggest if Israel plays its hand more subtly, and quietly with the Arabs, everyone will come together to change the regime in Iran.
‘everyone coming together’ would include the likes of Qatar .. ‘the devil in prada’. With Qatar’s huge funding of the Muslim Brotherhood through educational channels in Europe and the West’, I can only see trouble ahead. The Arab world has shown for decades its own divisions, especially the sunni shia divide and they certainly can’t be trusted.
Joshua, I think it's far too early to write the ending of this story.
We've all watched Trump long enough to know that nothing is over until it's actually over. He has a habit of maneuvering, applying pressure, delaying, negotiating, and then changing course when people least expect it.
Personally, I find it hard to believe that Iran is simply going to hand over its enriched uranium and abandon its nuclear ambitions. The regime may be buying time, hoping for political changes, hoping for pressure to ease, and hoping circumstances become more favorable.
The pressure is still on, and I don't think we've reached the final chapter yet.
Of course, regime change would be the ultimate victory. But even if that doesn't happen, a genuinely verifiable, nuclear-free Iran would still represent a major strategic win for Israel and the West.
For now, I think the jury is still out. Let's see how the story ends before we decide how it ended.
Yes, all that you have written is playing out right now, with Israel responding militarily to Iran's attack, against Trump's rude and forceful instruction not to do so. And with the rest of the world more concerned with their economies than Israel's actual survival as a nation.
As Iran attempts to make Lebanon an inclusion in any deal, Israel must continue to keep it separate due to its special place in our security and keep fighting. The world, and, indeed, Trump himself, does not appear to care about the Hezbollah situation and the need to eradicate them as a force.
I just came back from the bomb shelter for the 2nd time this morning. If Trump restrains Netanyahu, all hell will break out in this country. Trump is delusional and a threat to everyone.
I don't think so. Because if this were the case, Trump would have bombed, declared victory and left. Instead we remain in this bizarre holding pattern where Trump looks increasingly detached from reality and is leading the US and Israel towards a strategic defeat.
Joshua, well written and explained. Of course it’s only speculation, as Captain Kitty points out, because we know how nations in the Arab world can change sides so quickly.
Why it stopped? Truthfully it is because of Trump. Trump is no saviour because he loves Jews. He got the hostages free because he thought he would get the Nobel Peace Prize. He only cares about his ego, not Israel and not Jews. He keeps thinking he will be honoured as the world's peacemaker, but he has failed with Hamas in Gaza, and now he has shown how weak the US is to the world, in regards to Iran. China is looking on smiling as they aim their eyes on Taiwan, where they now know the US is a paper tiger, a fitting name for a country that has fled every war since WWII except for their glorious victory over Grenada, a speck of land in the Caribbean. And now that Israel allowed itself to become a colony of the US, with Trump de facto Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister, it has also allowed itself to show incredible weakness in the ME, a deadly sign for neighbouring countries to try and attack. Any kind of weakness in the minds in the ME, means bloodshed and more bloodshed, tribe against tribe, clan against clan, Sunni vs Shia, and Israel against all the rest. That is why Oct. 7 happened, due to the two years of constant violent demonstrations to try and overthrow the Netanyahu government by the Left.Most Israelis are furious at the US for stopping before Iran was defeated, and it will be the end of Netanyahu if he grovels and obeys his master, Trump, and stops the retaliation. As we all know there is no peace deal with Hamas, and Hamas has rebuilt itself totally, as the US and every other country refuses to disarm Hamas, so just because Trump screams there is peace, he is lying and lying and lying once more.
You rant quite opinionatedly, but present NO FACTS to support your opinion. I disagree with your premise. The American navy is currently enforcing a blockade which restricts the ability of Iran to gain more income. At the same time, the navy has been improving the ability to transit oil tankers through the Strait. Ultimately, Iran will be deprived of resources. Subsequently, both Hamas and Hezbollah will lose their support. We, the West, will win. History is unrelenting. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
You just gave me my laugh of the day. The American navy cannot stop the Houthis, let alone Iran. Iran knows only too well, how the US has fled every war since WWII except of course for Grenada, and they are biding their time. Peace in Gaza? The US promised to destroy Hamas and yet they are in total control, and rearmed, because no other country will disarm them and neither will your glorious America. That is how peace is proclaimed, Trump style. Iran has retained most of there missiles deep inside the mountains in special caves which they cemented the entrances to and a few weeks ago opened them up again. . How do I know all this? Because I read every English speaking newspaper out of Israel except for the Ha-aretz a"post-Zionist, post -Jewish " media outlet where the owner himself stated in Israel that he deliberately lies, as he knows that foreign ambassadors and governments read it, since other than the Communists,, no one in Israel reads the drek. You obviously watch CNN for your news, and believe the BS spewing out of Trump's mouth. It is sad when one is so much a "true believer" that they become delusional.
Exactly what Israelis are demanding, in polls taken in Israel. Since Oct. 7, even the Left is no longer suicidal, which American Jews seem totally unaware of in their comfortable, entitled bubble-wrapped lives.That Trump not dictate how Israelis will get murdered by Hezbollah and Hamas, nor what kind of security is necessary.They have the right to demand independence from Trump and his bully ways and his lies about peace. They are furious that the US stopped the Iran war too early and have come to realize he is a blowhard. Big mouth, little substance unless it is for his ego. Hamas would be disarmed and gotten rid of, and yet, what has happened.. Hamas has total control, has rearmed and gotten thousands of new terrorists, and no country is willing to disarm Hamas including the US. Peace? A farce with the IDF dealing with them every day as they fire on them, often coming through tunnels to do so. That is not peace, but according to Trump it is. It is time for Israelis to not have American Jews tell them what to do.
So just go it alone? I am very frustrated by trump as well amd I fully understand the emotion. I am.not in the military but military planners have to play out the consequences of every action including those that are beyond tbe imagination. Arguments on web sites are entertaining as they don't have real world consequences. Maybe this is all a charade, maybe not.
In the Persian Gulf there may never be a weak Iran: it is still a vast country of 92 million with important oil and gas resources. More importantly, it has been a centrally administered state for 2000+ years while the tribes with flags across the water can barely claim 100 years of statehood. The Iranian population has a work ethic that the Saudi does not.
Arab states will be delusional to believe that Iran will be weak indefinitely. If sanctions are relaxed, Iran can recover.
The best Arab countries can hope for is a pro-Western Iran, like the Shah's, that may force some matters, like the dispute with Iraq over the Shatt al-Arab waterway, but not pose an existential threat.
It's unreasonable to expect the Israelis to sit by while missiles rain down on them. Possibly this will be the fork in the road in relations between our 2 countries. Idk but we'll see what happens.
Bottom line: as the rest of the world increasingly turns away from the Lord, Israel is in a unique place to turn toward Him. He's the only hope any of us have these days.
Amen David, Amen!
Am Israel Chai, to the glory of God!
May God bless Israel
I heard Trump had told Israel to stand down and thought I was hearing things. I checked and found out it was true. Missiles reigning on the people of Israel, and Israel is supposed to sit by quietly. There has been a ping pong game of deal or no deal, ceasefire that never was. It is the same M.O. as Hamas and Gaza, or will be. No disarmament, did not give up power, not a word about the rebuilding of Gaza, per Kushner and Witkoff, or about the Board of Peace. Why is Israel so afraid to be bigger and stronger? What have the Middle Eastern countries ever done for Israel? If a missile hit the US, you can bet Trump's reaction would be very different, but Israel? It's used to being bombarded with rockets, drones, and missiles on a daily basis, Israelis are used to running to shelters on the hour. This is Israel's neighborhood with many hostile, two-faced neighbors who cannot be trusted, ever. If Israel is not allowed to finish the job with Iran and Hezbollah, it will have a bigger mess to clean up again and again. Am Yisrael Chai. Baruch Hashem.
Netanyahu can placate Trump, but he will look weak if he does so while Israel is under attack and that will likely wreck his chances of reelection. So what will he do? Nobody knows for sure, but based on his past behavior, I suspect he will disregard Trump’s pleas and retaliate. What’s Trump going to do about that? Not much unless he wants to look completely ineffective.
Israel has no choice. No other country faces the threat of annihilation as it does. Iran fired missiles at it, not because Israel attacked Iran but because Israel attacked Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah whose own missiles are making Israel’s North uninhabitable thus shrinking the tiny Jewish State even more. Israel has to go all out and remove the Iranian existential threat once and for all. And the Pentagon’s bogus claim that Israel is spying on it is a blood libel. I have no doubt that someone in DOD leaked the nonstory to the non journalistic New York Times. The Trump administration is playing a dangerous game and the risks of losing it are the highest for Israel. A book published after the Six Day War was named STRIKE ZION! Trump will stew, condemn, rage, threaten and use obscenities against Netanyahu. But, at the end of the day AM YISRAEL CHAI. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIVE!
I am not so sure that the war has stopped. Its active kinetic phase has diminished, but the U.S. remains active while Israel continues on against Hezbollah. In fact, it was the IDF attack on the Hezbollah stronghold in Southern Beirut that led to Iran’s launch of 7 ballistic missiles (with none hitting their targets).
Maybe President Trump is having a Biden-like “take the win” moment. But it’s more likely another example of strategic patience that far too many observers have forgotten about: while talks amble on - and we have no idea what is being discussed - the U.S. counter-blockade remains in place and the economic clock is continuing to run down on the Iranian regime’s solvency. And that means that, unlike the multi-year JCPOA and Biden’s failed “longer and stronger JCPOA” negotiations, the regime cannot spin out negotiations with Trump endlessly.
While the Middle East plays by different rules than the West, if my read is correct, the regime will collapse when its minions are not paid and abandon their post. The best option would then be for the regular army to support the Iranian people in delivering the final blow. But no option is guaranteed.
Brilliant analysis. I think Europe is irrelevant, the Arabs want to see the Iranian regime utterly destroyed, and Trump has to work around the American mentally-ill Left wing (may they have a speedy and complete recovery). Yes, Trump may need to be educated a little more about the Islamic mentality. But my hope is Israel and Trump's military are just biding time to appear more dovish than hawkish, and to resupply. And to mark all the targets before striking in very big way. One last thought, maybe the Arabs' real fear is that if Iran's regime is replaced with a democracy, their rule may be threatened.
.. the bulk of the Iranian people want their regime out, but as Joshua Hoffman rightly says, Israel being the most powerful is not ideal to the Arab and Muslim world.
The author quoted two left wing sources to support his contention that America is distancing herself from Israel. That’s just what the left would like to see. I may be wrong but I don’t think that is what is happening. JuT as Iran is playing good cop/ bad cop with America I think that Israel and America are playing good cop/ bad cop with Iran. At the end of the day I don’t think that Trump will allow Iran to make a fool of him bu surviving and starting over again after it recovers. Trump has his legacy to consider not just the midterms. Also, what about the poor Iranian people, is he going to betray them too? As one commentator mentioned the Hajj is on in Saudi Arabia right now. Millions of Muslim pilgrims are in danger. That is also another huge Saudi concern. I think that the kinetic war will resume in the not too distant future if for no other reason than that Iran is consistently refusing to give up her nuclear ambitions and Trump does not want to be another Obama.
Hi Max. We'll argue out this one in shul. Perhaps we can suggest if Israel plays its hand more subtly, and quietly with the Arabs, everyone will come together to change the regime in Iran.
‘everyone coming together’ would include the likes of Qatar .. ‘the devil in prada’. With Qatar’s huge funding of the Muslim Brotherhood through educational channels in Europe and the West’, I can only see trouble ahead. The Arab world has shown for decades its own divisions, especially the sunni shia divide and they certainly can’t be trusted.
Joshua, I think it's far too early to write the ending of this story.
We've all watched Trump long enough to know that nothing is over until it's actually over. He has a habit of maneuvering, applying pressure, delaying, negotiating, and then changing course when people least expect it.
Personally, I find it hard to believe that Iran is simply going to hand over its enriched uranium and abandon its nuclear ambitions. The regime may be buying time, hoping for political changes, hoping for pressure to ease, and hoping circumstances become more favorable.
The pressure is still on, and I don't think we've reached the final chapter yet.
Of course, regime change would be the ultimate victory. But even if that doesn't happen, a genuinely verifiable, nuclear-free Iran would still represent a major strategic win for Israel and the West.
For now, I think the jury is still out. Let's see how the story ends before we decide how it ended.
The War doesn't appear to have stopped at all.
Yes, all that you have written is playing out right now, with Israel responding militarily to Iran's attack, against Trump's rude and forceful instruction not to do so. And with the rest of the world more concerned with their economies than Israel's actual survival as a nation.
As Iran attempts to make Lebanon an inclusion in any deal, Israel must continue to keep it separate due to its special place in our security and keep fighting. The world, and, indeed, Trump himself, does not appear to care about the Hezbollah situation and the need to eradicate them as a force.
And so it goes on.
I just came back from the bomb shelter for the 2nd time this morning. If Trump restrains Netanyahu, all hell will break out in this country. Trump is delusional and a threat to everyone.
I really appreciate your insights.
I don't think so. Because if this were the case, Trump would have bombed, declared victory and left. Instead we remain in this bizarre holding pattern where Trump looks increasingly detached from reality and is leading the US and Israel towards a strategic defeat.
Joshua, well written and explained. Of course it’s only speculation, as Captain Kitty points out, because we know how nations in the Arab world can change sides so quickly.
Joshua’s speculation makes perfect sense.
Why it stopped? Truthfully it is because of Trump. Trump is no saviour because he loves Jews. He got the hostages free because he thought he would get the Nobel Peace Prize. He only cares about his ego, not Israel and not Jews. He keeps thinking he will be honoured as the world's peacemaker, but he has failed with Hamas in Gaza, and now he has shown how weak the US is to the world, in regards to Iran. China is looking on smiling as they aim their eyes on Taiwan, where they now know the US is a paper tiger, a fitting name for a country that has fled every war since WWII except for their glorious victory over Grenada, a speck of land in the Caribbean. And now that Israel allowed itself to become a colony of the US, with Trump de facto Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister, it has also allowed itself to show incredible weakness in the ME, a deadly sign for neighbouring countries to try and attack. Any kind of weakness in the minds in the ME, means bloodshed and more bloodshed, tribe against tribe, clan against clan, Sunni vs Shia, and Israel against all the rest. That is why Oct. 7 happened, due to the two years of constant violent demonstrations to try and overthrow the Netanyahu government by the Left.Most Israelis are furious at the US for stopping before Iran was defeated, and it will be the end of Netanyahu if he grovels and obeys his master, Trump, and stops the retaliation. As we all know there is no peace deal with Hamas, and Hamas has rebuilt itself totally, as the US and every other country refuses to disarm Hamas, so just because Trump screams there is peace, he is lying and lying and lying once more.
You rant quite opinionatedly, but present NO FACTS to support your opinion. I disagree with your premise. The American navy is currently enforcing a blockade which restricts the ability of Iran to gain more income. At the same time, the navy has been improving the ability to transit oil tankers through the Strait. Ultimately, Iran will be deprived of resources. Subsequently, both Hamas and Hezbollah will lose their support. We, the West, will win. History is unrelenting. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
You just gave me my laugh of the day. The American navy cannot stop the Houthis, let alone Iran. Iran knows only too well, how the US has fled every war since WWII except of course for Grenada, and they are biding their time. Peace in Gaza? The US promised to destroy Hamas and yet they are in total control, and rearmed, because no other country will disarm them and neither will your glorious America. That is how peace is proclaimed, Trump style. Iran has retained most of there missiles deep inside the mountains in special caves which they cemented the entrances to and a few weeks ago opened them up again. . How do I know all this? Because I read every English speaking newspaper out of Israel except for the Ha-aretz a"post-Zionist, post -Jewish " media outlet where the owner himself stated in Israel that he deliberately lies, as he knows that foreign ambassadors and governments read it, since other than the Communists,, no one in Israel reads the drek. You obviously watch CNN for your news, and believe the BS spewing out of Trump's mouth. It is sad when one is so much a "true believer" that they become delusional.
And you are proposing exactly what?
Exactly what Israelis are demanding, in polls taken in Israel. Since Oct. 7, even the Left is no longer suicidal, which American Jews seem totally unaware of in their comfortable, entitled bubble-wrapped lives.That Trump not dictate how Israelis will get murdered by Hezbollah and Hamas, nor what kind of security is necessary.They have the right to demand independence from Trump and his bully ways and his lies about peace. They are furious that the US stopped the Iran war too early and have come to realize he is a blowhard. Big mouth, little substance unless it is for his ego. Hamas would be disarmed and gotten rid of, and yet, what has happened.. Hamas has total control, has rearmed and gotten thousands of new terrorists, and no country is willing to disarm Hamas including the US. Peace? A farce with the IDF dealing with them every day as they fire on them, often coming through tunnels to do so. That is not peace, but according to Trump it is. It is time for Israelis to not have American Jews tell them what to do.
So just go it alone? I am very frustrated by trump as well amd I fully understand the emotion. I am.not in the military but military planners have to play out the consequences of every action including those that are beyond tbe imagination. Arguments on web sites are entertaining as they don't have real world consequences. Maybe this is all a charade, maybe not.
As stated by several Israeli leaders: “we prefer to be unpopular or even hated than to be slaughtered.”
In the Persian Gulf there may never be a weak Iran: it is still a vast country of 92 million with important oil and gas resources. More importantly, it has been a centrally administered state for 2000+ years while the tribes with flags across the water can barely claim 100 years of statehood. The Iranian population has a work ethic that the Saudi does not.
Arab states will be delusional to believe that Iran will be weak indefinitely. If sanctions are relaxed, Iran can recover.
The best Arab countries can hope for is a pro-Western Iran, like the Shah's, that may force some matters, like the dispute with Iraq over the Shatt al-Arab waterway, but not pose an existential threat.
It's unreasonable to expect the Israelis to sit by while missiles rain down on them. Possibly this will be the fork in the road in relations between our 2 countries. Idk but we'll see what happens.