With its leader still working to form a clear majority and voter turnout predicted to be low on September 17 in Israel, the last issue the Jewish State and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to have was any sort of engagement with Hezbollah.
Yet after the near miss of an anti-tank projectile aimed at an Israeli personnel carrier, and now with the most recent, more urgent discovery, it seems the threat from the Beirut-based and Iranian-backed terror group is very real and on the uptick.
Israeli media reported on Tuesday the IDF finding of a Hezbollah factory identified to be outfitted with precision-guided missile capability. Indeed, these are not the rockets of years past made of scrap metal with enough punch to terrorize Israelis who live on the Southern Negev border with Gaza. Instead, these are missiles with a message far more chilling than terror. They are meant to maim and kill the very symbol of Israel’s character, its citizen soldiers.
As Iran’s domestic economy falls into deep tatters as a result of U.S. sanctions since President Donald Trump rightly decertified America’s connection to a flawed nuclear deal, we ask the administration to work even harder in its cooperative effort with Israel to destabilize Iran and its dangerous proxy in Lebanon.
Iran’s hand in the development of these missiles should be no surprise. The rogue regime should pay every essential price if blood of any Israeli is shed.
We certainly are not encouraging either Israel or the U.S. to wage war on Iran or for that matter Hezbollah. However, both of these regimes and the irresponsible flagrancy of Hassan Nasrallah should pay a crippling price should Israel be harmed.
In the meantime, we urge Israel’s politicians to find common ground in their remaining days of campaigning and that whoever is chosen to lead the next government do so with the support not just of his coalition but of all Israelis.
We are currently preparing for a time beyond the elections, for the deeply reflective period of the Yamim Noraim. Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora need to approach these upcoming Days of Awe collectively and with a sense of achdut, or unity.
Iran cannot be allowed to taunt Israel, the U.S. or the world, be it in the Strait of Hormuz, Beirut, Syria or anywhere.
