Calling All Jews: This is Your Moment

The messages keep coming: in “how are you”; “are your kids safe?” Most moving, because we had to cancel our neighborhood minyan Friday night and Shabbat, a friend from New Jersey promised to pray with all of us “in mind.” But much as we in Israel appreciate all this love and support. It’s not what we need. My friends, in America, Canada, the UK, Australia, France,  Argentina, and the rest of the world, this is your moment, too. Are you ready to stand up for Israel, the Jewish people, and Western civilization against Iran’s genocidal, nuclear-hungry, sexist, homophobic, anti-democratic, Jihadist dictatorship – or not?

Of course, we in Israel are doing what we need to do. Our pilots, our, ahem, spies, our amazing army, are doing what America and the West should have been doing – which is teaching Iran and the world that rogue states shouldn’t go nuclear, especially when they threaten other states with genocide and spread terror globally. And, far from this battlefront, our home front is strong, determined, united. This morning, on Jerusalem’s Emek Refaim, the coffee shops were busy, not just the “essential” services like grocery stores and pharmacies. And the wedding we were invited to at 10:30 AM  was postponed to 3 PM – for must of us to watch on Zoom. But, boy, the energy, the joy, the optimism, popped through our screen and sent us soaring.

But, beware – there’s an anti-Israel storm coming. Of course, it’s been brewing, but it will get worse. Consider the first opinion column American Jewry’s holy bible, the New York Times, published. Called “Will Trump Show Restraint in the Middle East” by the usually- thoughtful Nicholas Kristof, it showed just how much work each of you needs to do, to defend the Jewish state on this war’s 8^th front  – the war for Israel’s reputation – and, I add, for moral clarity as well as a healthy world.

Kristof starts, not by saying “Israel” attacked – in a justified, long overdue, attack – but that the hated “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has bombed Iran in what may lead to yet another war in the Middle East.”

Most outrageously, ahistorically, Kristof wrote  that “Netanyahu justified his latest military campaign by saying that Iran was a ‘clear and present danger.’ … But a key reason for Iran’s increasingly dangerous course was the past colossal misjudgments by Netanyahu and Trump in their dealings with Iran. With strong backing from Netanyahu, Trump in 2018 pulled out of the nuclear agreement that President Barack Obama had reached that largely contained Iran’s nuclear program.”

Wow. Better do your homework and eat your wheaties. Kristof is rewriting history, trusting that BDS and TDS – Bibi Derangement Syndrome and Trump Derangement Syndrome – will bypass your brains, hearts, and souls.

First, Kristof neglects this war’s true cause– that after repeatedly threatening Israel, encouraging terrorists to attack it, and destabilizing the region, Iran launched two separate ballistic missile attacks against Israel. What country absorbs over 500 missiles from an evil adversary that promises more – and says, “thanks so much, we’ll ‘take the win,’ because we didn’t absorb the kind of losses of people and property you tried imposing on us.”

Second, the weasel words “Netanyahu justified his latest military campaign” are a modern-day blood libel – and I don’t use that phrase lightly. It implies that the bloodthirsty Bibi and his primitive Israelis are just collecting wars and skulls. It ignores the October 7th rampage, the Hezbollah bombings, the Houthi attacks, and the ongoing Palestinian terrorist attacks inside and outside Gaza – often bankrolled and orchestrated by Iran.  Most Israelis feel that Netanyahu failed to address these threats early enough. He dodged one military campaign after another.

Third, we can debate Barack Obama’s JCPOA – which was an A – an agreement — because he couldn’t make it a T – a treaty that would pass the Senate. But, there was no excuse for America to send Iran millions of dollars that fueled terrorists who raped and pillaged.

Finally, unknowingly raising a major issue Americans must face, Kristof writes that “the best way Trump can protect” America’s soldiers and embassies in the region “is to stay out of this fight and try to resurrect a nuclear deal.” Trump tried – and failed. Obama tried – and the Iranians cheated while making mayhem. America must stop being scared of paper tigers like Iran and start leading the world again. And Americans must understand that, sometimes, especially when facing maniacal Jihadi dictators, a little bit of short-term war is the best way to get a whole lot of long-term peace.

So, my friends, here is your mission – and you really, really need to accept it.

Learn the facts – and spread these truths – which are not talking points:

• Iran instigated this conflict, repeatedly over twenty years, with genocidal threats, which provides sufficient justification for a just war.
• This was not a “pre-emptive” strike because Iran bombarded Israel with over 500 ballistic missiles, twice – and has vowed to do it again.
• Israel isn’t being – with apologies to Bob Dylan – the “neighborhood bully” but “the world’s watchmen – or sanitation engineers – doing today what America and the West should have done years ago. Especially, after the April 13-14th attacks, America should have hit Iran, hard – not to defend Israel, but to save Taiwan from China by showing strength and determination.
• This war has nothing to do with Palestinians, the occupation preoccupation, settlements, or even Gaza – except that October 7, like 9/11, illustrated what happens when you downplay genocidal jihadist threats.
• In short, Israel has once again proved its worth to the world and to America – in the most “transactional way. ” Israel should be thanked by Democrats and Republicans, by Americans, Canadians, Brits, Australians, Europeans, South Americans – and peace-loving Arabs as well as Iranians, most of whom hate the mullahs’ aggressive, oppressive, regime.

I don’t care if you hate Trump and Bibi, and are fed up with Israel’s Gaza War. In fact, those of you who have those positions have added credibility in what must become the biggest, bravest, boldest campaign of your lives. Thank the President and the Republican incumbents – as a usual critic – for supporting Israel at this moment, and encourage more because this is a marathon, for the sake of the West and for peace, not just Israel. And reach out to the usual Bash Israel Firsters or the growing corps of Israel-skeptics – especially if you ally with them and vote with them on other issues. Then explain, in your language, with your shared values, why defeating a human-rights-abusing theocracy saved us all.

You must take the lead here – and take risks. Risk friendships. Risk your usual comforts. Risk your reputations. You’ll discover there are many more people out there cheering for Israel, who can distinguish between democratic though imperfect Israel and Iran’s perfectly evil dictatorship oppressing their own proud Persian people. More important, by standing strong, you will pass the mirror test – liking the hero, the leader, the clear-eyed prophet you see in the mirror.  And you will pass the most basic history test:  you will stand on the right side of history, and help Israel defend itself – and the rest of the world too.

The writer, a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute, is an American presidential historian. His latest books, “To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream” and “The Essential Guide to October 7th and its Aftermath” were just published.