1. Patience. These are historic days, in which we are required to rise far above the blood-soaked present and think about the better future that may await us, if we persevere in our struggle, grit our teeth and be patient. We are an ancient people built for the long haul. Our enemies are counting on our impatience. Not this time. If bringing down the evil regime in Iran means we must remain huddled in shelters on the night of the Passover Seder, the price is worth it. The prophet Micah, writing in the 8th century BCE, prophesies to us across the years: "As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show him wonders." Let us pray for the completion of the plagues of Egypt upon the regime in Iran, so that we may witness the dawn of our redemption.
2. The war's objectives were published long ago by the US and Israel. Yet those peddling illusions about a "diplomatic solution" keep insisting on asking: what is the exit strategy? Here is the path: first, strike senior Iranian officials, from Ali Khamenei downward, in order to destabilize the regime. Second, strike the missile array while achieving air superiority. Third, strike government institutions and general assets, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij in the streets, and weaken the regime's capacity for repression. Fourth, eliminate the defense industries, including the missile, drone and satellite production systems. Fifth, destroy the nuclear facilities of every kind, including research institutes, and finally deal with the evil regime's proxies in the Middle East: the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations, both already active fronts, and, if the will exists, the Houthis as well.
All this is meant to pave the way for the fall of the regime and its replacement after 47 years of oppression. That also depends on the citizens, on whether they will fight for their freedom. Clausewitz said war is the realm of uncertainty, and significant elements of it remain shrouded in fog. That is why patience is essential, so that the campaign can be carried out thoroughly. Let us hope.
3. Don Quixote. Europe is not fighting, despite the moral clarity of this war. The criticism directed at Tehran over the massacre of Iranian civilians does not come close to the quantities of antisemitic venom poured on us since October 7. Over the past 80 years, the intellectual and political elite has labored to neuter the will to live of the old continent. A precondition for life is the willingness to pay a price for freedom. Europe became accustomed to sheltering beneath America's protective wings. No longer. Most of Europe's responses recall Don Quixote, the hero of the novel Miguel de Cervantes conceived in the early 17th century. He is a tragicomic hero trying to live by the norms of medieval chivalry, though they are irrelevant to his own time. And so the world order is changing before Europeans' eyes while they don the scrap-metal armor suited, perhaps, to the old order.
4. Between the wars. The similarity between the current war and World War II is striking. In both wars, time was required before the US entered the campaign. In the meantime, it built up strength, armed itself, forged alliances and exhausted diplomatic options. Franklin D. Roosevelt faced public pressure, especially from liberal quarters, against intervening in the war. The American elite looked with contempt at what was happening on the old continent and chose escapism. It had no interest in saving Europe from Hitler's hands, as though the evil would never reach them.
The one who stood firm with nerves of steel, towering above the other European leaders, was Winston Churchill, whom Roosevelt warned more than once to avoid speaking publicly about the US intention to fight, even though both leaders knew that was what would happen after the 1940 election. Churchill worked on Roosevelt and convinced him that this was the war of the entire free world against a tyranny seeking to enslave it in the name of a death cult.
5. There is no British Churchill today. Britain has decided not to join the campaign, and so have the rest of Europe's countries. Even Arab states under attack by Iran have chosen not to respond. History will remember Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fulfilled the advice given nearly 2,000 years ago by Hillel the Elder in Pirkei Avot: "In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man." And so he took upon himself Churchill's role, persuading Trump that a plan to defeat Iran is both possible and vital to the security of the world. The bond between the two leaders and between the two nations is already reverberating throughout the region and the world.
