Opinion
Ken Timmerman’s Threat Watch, www.kentimmerman.com, 10-4-24
| Israelis from across the political spectrum were united at the start of the High Holy Days in their determination to strike Iran. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who has clashed increasingly with Prime Minister Netanyahu, tweeted out the common sentiment shortly after the latest Iranian missile barrage against Israel. “Iran has not learned a simple lesson – those who attack the State of Israel, pay a heavy price.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid agreed that “the response must be harsh, and send a clear message to the entire axis: Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza.” Even the leaders of the G7, who have rarely missed an opportunity to criticize the Jewish state, “condemn[ed] in the strongest terms Iran’s direct military attack on Israel, which constitutes a serious threat to regional stability.” That didn’t stop them from condemning Israel in all seven remaining paragraphs of their statement and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, wars that were not started by Israel but that Israel has vowed to finish. (Somehow I think that if Mexico slaughtered residents in border communities in Texas and Arizona and Canada lobbed missiles into New York, Michigan, and North Dakota, we would be proclaiming our right to respond mercilessly. But maybe I’m wrong. What would a President Harris do?) Fissures among Lebanon’s communities have been widening as Hezbollah pulls the entire country into war. Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, who I had the pleasure of meeting before his elevation to Cardinal, blasted Hezbollah in a recent sermon. “When each group starts feeling that Lebanon belongs to someone else, Lebanon no longer belongs to anyone. It becomes a piece of land divided among invaders who plunder a country they do not own,” he said in a clear reference to Hezbollah and its puppet master, the Islamic regime in Iran. The Washington Post, in a despicable move masquerading as journalism, claimed that videos of the latest Iranian missile attacks showed that twenty Iranian missiles broke through Israeli defenses to strike the Nevatim air base in the Negev desert, while another three hit Tel Nof, home to the IDF’s fleet of F-35 fighters. The Israeli military said the missile strikes inflicted minimal damage, and that its bases were fully operational. Why the Washington Post would carry out bomb damage assessment for the enemy is incomprehensible. How will Israel respond to Iran’s missile attack? That is the question on everyone’s mind. If I were advising Israeli leaders – or America’s, for that matter – I would counsel against striking Iran’s oil fields or domestic infrastructure, because of the impact on ordinary Iranians who don’t necessarily embrace the insanity of the regime leaders. Oil export platforms, however, are something else, since the regime does not share oil export revenue with the people. Instead, it distributes it like the spoils of war to regime insiders and to IRGC cliques, as well as to its foreign terrorist proxies. IRGC missile bases and missile production plants are also fair game, as are Iranian air defense systems. Just as Israel has tried in both Gaza and Lebanon to take out missile-launching infrastructure, so I would expect them to do that in Iran. But we shouldn’t expect the Israelis to limit themselves to a single strike, or a single target set. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett told CNN shortly after the attack that Israel now had a “once in a 50-year opportunity.” “We need to take out Iran’s nuclear program, we need to attack Iran’s energy facilities, and we need to attack the regime itself, right away,” he said. “It’s time to hit, destroy the nuclear program, and finally allow the Iranian people to rise up – the amazing Iranian people, who have one of the worst regimes on earth.” I have argued incessantly for many years that aiding the Iranian people to overthrow the regime is in the strategic interest of the United States — and Israel. Maybe today we are finally getting close to taking action in that direction. I discuss this and the Arab reaction to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as the internal dynamics of the Iranian regime, on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend. As always, you can listen live at 1 PM on Saturday on 104.9 FM or 550 AM in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app. If you’d like to learn more about my policy prescriptions for Iran, please visit the America First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security. Yours in freedom, Ken PS: My new book, The Iran House: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, will go on sale next week. |
| Ken Timmerman’s 12th book of non-fiction, AND THE REST IS HISTORY: Tales of Hostages, Arms Dealers, Dirty Tricks, and Spies, can be ordered by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. Raising Olives in Provence, can be ordered by clicking here. – Senior Fellow, America First Policy Institute (current) – Republican nominee for Congress, Maryland District 8 (2012) – President & CEO, Foundation for Democracy in Iran, www.iran.org – Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2006 Cell: 904-817-8584 NEW NUMBER Follow me on Twitter @kentimmerman Facebook: ken timmerman New personal email: [email protected] Website: kentimmerman.com |
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The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
