Like a broken record.
On October 8th, Israeli talking heads shared their hopes that the October 7th massacre would ultimately force a desperate Israel to accept the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, which these talking heads were certain was the path to utopian peace.
These same talking heads are now hoping that the participation of the United States and others in the defense of the Jewish State against the massive Iranian attack will lead to the same result.
To be clear: I don't claim to know how much of the fantastic cooperation we just received was intended to defend us and how much it was to avoid a scenario in which the Jericho missiles with nuclear warheads would be launched from the submarines we have now positioned near Iran ["according to
foreign reports"].
Neither, however, is relevant when considering how the historic event we witnessed this sleepless night should impact Israeli policy. A sovereign Palestinian state remains an existential threat.
It is now even more obvious that:
Kicking the "Hamas can" down the road by indefinitely postponing invading Rafah and taking care of the Philadelphi Corridor can have existential consequences.
Kicking the "Hezbollah can" down the road by fantasizing that having Hezbollah move back a few kilometers somehow magically ends the existential threat of the hundreds of thousands of rockets and guided missiles Hezbollah has deployed north of the Litani remains just that: a dangerous fantasy.
In fact, Hezbollah is ready to launch a hundred times as many rockets and missiles as were intercepted from Iran!.
We should most certainly appreciate and treasure the help we received in the historic event we just experienced.
But the extension of that help, as important as it was, in no way changes the very serious consequences the Jewish State may face if it:
1. succumbs to the "two-state solution" fantasy or
2. fails to get the job done in the Gaza Strip and
3. indefinitely postpones addressing the hundreds of thousands of rockets and guided missiles Hezbollah has deployed north of the Litani.
Dr. Aaron Lerner heads IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis, providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations since 1992.