Covering a War When It’s Just a Rumor

One of the quirks of publishing a printed paper is having to deal with the long lead times. Our glossy cover page, for example, needs to go a day earlier to the printer– on Monday afternoons– a full three days before the paper comes out on Thursday.

So if on Monday there’s a rumor of a big war coming, what do you do? If you know you have to cover such a huge story, but have no idea whether the war will break out or not, what do you put on the cover?

We had to find an idea that would work in either case, which is how we came up with: “The War Nobody Wants.” Whether the war breaks out or not, the idea is still relevant.

But is a war against Iran and Hezbollah really a war nobody wants? You’ll have to read our analysis from our Israel Political Editor Shmuel Rosner and decide for yourself.

Our “flexible” headline, though, got me thinking about a column on the very subject of war. Is there such a thing as a war everyone should want? And what kind of war would that be?

An immediate and obvious answer is the war in Gaza, which had enormous support after the horrific massacre of Oct. 7.

Have you noticed, however, that as the months have dragged on with untold devastation and casualties; as the battered Hamas has stubbornly refused to fold; and as the hostages continue to languish in captivity, enthusiasm for the war has declined while support for a ceasefire-hostage deal has shot up?

Moreover, given that there are much bigger threats right now than Gaza– among those, precision guided missiles from Hezbollah that can overwhelm Israeli defenses and wreak havoc on Israeli towns and infrastructure– it shouldn’t surprise us if in a recent poll reported in JPost, 68% of Israelis support an immediate hostage deal to end the Israel-Hamas war.

The point is, wars are messy. Israel’s fierce and courageous fighting in Gaza over the past 10 months is a grim reminder that even the most justified and heroic of wars can end up as messy endeavors with messy end games.

While Americans were consumed with fury after 9/11, many of us supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But after hundreds of thousands of lives lost and many trillions spent and terrorism still flourishing in those countries, in retrospect these wars are anything but popular.

Wars have a way of humbling even the mighty.

Wars can also take on a life of their own. One side attacks, the other retaliates, and the pattern escalates until next thing you know, an all-out conflagration is on the verge of breaking out.

It seems we’ve reached that precarious moment in the Mideast, which is why it’s so nerve-wracking to follow the events.

Iran and its proxies– especially Hezbollah– have been provoking Israel to an unbearable degree. Hezbollah’s continuous rocket and drone attacks on the north since October have forced Israel to evacuate thousands of civilians. Israel’s reprisals have been damaging and numerous but have not yet deterred the terror group.

Last week, Israel decided to up the ante by assassinating Hezbollah’s #2 man in his hideaway in Beirut. It made an equally strong statement with Iran, the head of the snake, by taking down the top Hamas political leader while he was being hosted by the Iranian regime in the heart of Tehran.

These moves are lethal and intimidating, but they’re also humiliating. To salvage their honor and teach Israel a lesson, Hezbollah and Iran might feel compelled to overreach. That is now the key question: Will the parties measure their responses or will this be the tipping point when all hell breaks loose?

If war does break out, will Israel be ready to withstand a barrage of guided missiles from Hezbollah, and, in turn, deliver enough punishment to devastate Hezbollah’s military and bring back safety to its northern border?

Meanwhile, if Iran gets into the act, will Israel use the opportunity to do decisive damage to its nuclear program? And will Western nations pressure Israel to limit its response to avoid an all-out regional war?

Israel won’t be alone. In recent days, U.S. army leaders have been huddling with their Israeli counterparts to coordinate their response. If there ever was a time when I’m grateful for the U.S.-Israel partnership, this is it.

In the end, there are certain wars that cannot be avoided, for the simple reason that some enemies are just immune to diplomacy. We can always hope that such sworn enemies of Israel– like Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran– end up imploding on their own, but hope is not a strategy.

Sooner or later, Israel may have to fight a war that nobody wants and nobody can prevent. And that will be true whether our paper comes out on Monday or Thursday.