Israel has humiliated Hezbollah, Iran – and the White House

Projectiles above Jerusalem, on October 1, 2024. Iran has launched a missile attack on Israel
Projectiles above Jerusalem, on October 1, 2024. Iran has launched a missile attack on Israel

Iran has now fired over 500 missiles and drones at Israel with virtually no effect. The Ayatollahs are pushing against a door they simply cannot open – let’s hope they realise this before plunging the Middle East into a horrific conflict.

The Israel Defence Forces are demonstrating to the world how to defeat terrorists. The Israeli government remains focused on its goal: to crush terrorists and restore safety along its northern border with Lebanon.

This is a fight for Israel’s very existence – an existential struggle that many in this country find hard to grasp. This is why Israel has launched uncompromising military and security operations against Iran’s proxies over the past year. The current offensive against Hezbollah has been extraordinarily bold and highly effective. The campaign to dismantle Hezbollah’s command structure and communications, planned over many years, has brought the terrorists to a near standstill. The UK and the West fought Al Qaeda for years without such comprehensive results, hindered by rules, regulations, public opinion, and politicians more focused on their own survival than their countries’ best interests.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu knows he is fighting not only for Israel’s future but also his own. His political durability in such a violent environment has allowed him to focus on the tough tasks needed to defeat the terrorists, especially as most Israelis blame him and his security apparatus for the horrific Hamas attack on October 7.

Iran, of course, created this situation, fuelling hatred in the region for years. Just as Putin has subdued Western support for Ukraine with the threat of nuclear war, Iran has sought to keep Israel and its allies in check with the threat of escalation and jihadist violence across the Middle East and in Western capitals. Israel has ignored these threats, along with muted requests from the US to avoid escalation.

Israel has prevailed against Iran because, first, it has nuclear weapons and Iran does not, and after the latest missile salvo, it never will.

Second, the Ayatollahs now realise that Israel can hit them far harder than they can retaliate, and I suspect they are about to learn this lesson after their botched missile attack last night. By supplying their proxies across the Arabian Peninsula in the hope of subjugating Israel, Iran has neglected its own conventional defences. They have no “iron dome” to protect Tehran from Israeli missiles and have likely given too many missiles and drones to Russia, hoping to receive nuclear technology in return. While nuclear know-how may come eventually, they don’t have it now, when they need it most.

There is likely some humiliation in the White House, with its “no confrontation to prevent escalation” stance being ignored by Netanyahu. Yet, like a good friend, the US helped protect Israel from Iranian attack, as did the UK, it seems.

Similarly, Obama’s red line on chemical weapons in Syria in 2012 was so ambiguous that, after hundreds of chemical attacks, Assad remains in power. In fact, one could argue he retained power because he used chemical weapons. I witnessed the four-year siege of Aleppo being broken in December 2016 by 17 days of Syrian chlorine barrel bombs, and Douma, a Damascus suburb, fell to a chlorine attack in 2018.

Not much has been learnt – evident in Biden’s refusal to allow British Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian targets, even as Putin destroys hospitals and schools, fearing escalation to nuclear weapons. Surely, he can see through Putin’s bluster. After hundreds of empty nuclear threats, Biden must authorise Zelensky to target Putin directly.

Wars are won through bold action and lost through dithering. The Israelis have reinforced this mantra, while the US risks failure. The Israelis appear to have very broad rules of engagement and leadership willing to accept civilian casualties as an inevitable part of war.

Let us hope that, with Hezbollah subdued and Iran humiliated, Israel is now in a position to enforce peace. Iran may be the only party capable of securing the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

In a similar vein, if the US remains unwilling to take bold action in Russia, still fearful of the “virtual” nuclear threat, let’s hope our new government has the resolve to allow Ukraine to unleash Zelensky and use our Storm Shadow missiles to help Kyiv prevail. Time will tell.