Ceasefire holding, as I write.
For the Israelis, that usually means the same thing. They are not allowed to finish the job.
The Israelis were forced into this. They had intended to go on until the coast was clear, even if it took weeks for a hanging.
Trump had a different agenda, by way of saying he views himself as a peacemaker, and there’s the rub.
For Israel, there is no peace so long as Iran can keep firing rockets…like the one fired at Be’er Sheva with deadly results, only hours before the “ceasefire.”
Operation Rising Lion was mapped for all-out war against a regime that constantly swore “death to Israel” while developing means to do precisely so.
This war was not carded as a heavyweight fight where both sides get to trade punches. The Israelis were going for the knockout, as many rounds that would take.
A split decision would be no help, either…which may be what we got, after all.
The pity of it is that Netanyahu’s vital interests do not completely match up with Trump’s vital interests. Trump strides the world.
Netanyahu was prepared for unconditional surrender, and there are hints that he nearly got what he wanted, as when Khamenei was in hiding and feebly readying his son for leadership.
In any case, Tehran was on its knees.
Trump, fed up with war, fed up with all wars…pulled the rug. Ceasefire it is.
Netanyahu had no choice but to accede…and to effusively praise Trump for his support. Call it a win and move on.
Yet by the next morning the story had changed.
No doubt about it, both militaries, Israel’s and America’s, had performed masterfully, but was Iran really demolished, as we first kept hearing?
Today, even on Fox News, we hear experts tell us that Tehran’s nuclear program has been severely degraded.
Moreover, it’s been “set back” for quite some time, factoring in the commanders and scientists who have been eliminated due to Israel’s precision air strikes.
Set back?
That was not the language we heard a day ago, during all the hoopla. Today…the sobering.
So we hear that it could take months for Tehran to recover, which is being dismissed by experts as alleged false reporting from CNN as a means to minimize Trump’s triumph.
Nevertheless, the plan was for years…if ever…if Netanyahu had his way. He’d make sure that the tyrants would be finished once and for all. If not now, when?
Never again would we hear “death to Israel” while Jewish children were forced to drop everything to dash for the bomb shelters.
Trump is a mighty world leader, and a true friend of Israel, but never can he fully understand what it means being a Jew, and the anguish of being tormented by one tyrant to the next.
No other people have had to live like this for more than 3,000 years. Until, finally, Netanyahu had this oppressor in his sights.
The Ayatollah had no clothes, thanks to Israel’s Rising Lion and America’s Midnight Hammer… both awesome military feats.
To mix metaphors…
Netanyahu had his man wobbly against the ropes, ready to go down, if given more time to soften him up through a flurry of punches.
But Trump stepped in and stopped the fight for the benefit of world peace…a worthy sentiment.
Even if it means Israel was robbed for the chance to go in for the kill.
A dirty word in Israel. Ceasefire.
Now available, a collection of Jack Engelhard’s op-eds, “Writings.”
Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. New from the novelist, the anti-BDS thriller Compulsive. Website: www.jackengelhard.com
From the esteemed John w. Cassell: “Jack Engelhard is a writer without peer, and the. conscience of us all.”