While Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s recent claim that Iran “doesn’t have proxy forces” may seem Orwellian, this is increasingly coming true thanks to the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Much of Bibi’s interview this weekend in the Wall Street Journal consisted of the prime minister taking stock of the victories he led Israel to against its mortal enemies since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, claiming nothing less than “[t]he campaign that we carried out [in response] changed the Middle East.” In the interview, Bibi mentioned that under his leadership, Israel has crippled Hamas and Hezbollah, and took out most of Assad’s military hardware following Assad’s fall, which “just split that whole axis right down the middle.” Bibi calculated that Iran had invested $20 billion on Hezbollah, $30 billion on Syria, and “God knows how much on Hamas. And it’s all gone down the tubes.”
But most revealing in the interview is that Bibi led Israel to victory after victory by pursuing what he felt was the right course, despite incorrect advice from the Biden administration and others within Israel. Bibi highlighted several examples of his vindicated approach.
First, Bibi’s military chief and defense ministers advised him to strike Hezbollah first, then Hamas second, shortly after the Oct. 7 attack. But Bibi chose otherwise, stating that he did not want Hamas’ crimes left unanswered in the wake of Oct. 7, and he wanted to avoid a two-front war.
Second, also early in the war, the Biden administration advised Bibi against a ground invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack. But Bibi chose otherwise. “From the air, you can mow the lawn. You can’t pull out the weeds,” Bibi said. “We’re here to uproot Hamas — not to deliver deterrent blows, but to destroy it.” As present events show, Bibi’s decision to move forward with a massive ground invasion targeting Hamas first, and then to attack Hezbollah was the right move — now both terrorist organizations are but shells of what they were a year ago.
The third piece of bad advice came from the Biden administration, advising Bibi to not invade Rafah. As the Wall Street Journal piece recounts, the Biden administration had predicted 20,000 casualties, and Kamala Harris so infamously stated: “I have studied the maps. There’s nowhere for those folks to go.” But Bibi went ahead with the Rafah invasion. In spite of Harris’s concerns, Israel was able to orchestrate an unprecedentedly massive civilian evacuation with minimal casualties. And, the Rafah invasion resulted in Israel crushing Hamas’ last major force against Israel, killing arch-terrorist and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, and capturing the Philadelphi Corridor which cut off Hamas’ supply lines.
A fourth piece of bad advice came from both the Biden administration and those in Israel, telling Bibi to take it easy against Hezbollah, arguing against a massive attack and supporting a ceasefire early on. Bibi ignored this advice and chose to attack Hezbollah tectonically (both in secret early on in the war, and then overtly later). Given the fact that Hezbollah had plans to execute its own Oct. 7-like invasion of Israel’s north, Bibi was right again. Bibi’s stubbornness in refusing to take bad advice saved Israel from what would have been horrific casualties from Hezbollah in the fall of 2023.
And fifthly, some in Israel advised against Bibi moving forward with the pager attack against Hezbollah, and sixthly, there were both those in the Biden administration and in Israel that predicted a massive Hezbollah retaliation once Israel delivered the pager attack. Again, Bibi was vindicated both times — Israel’s pager attack is probably the most targeted and effective attack on terrorists of all time, and coupled with the subsequent targeted assassination of its leadership, Hezbollah was so crippled that it could not and did not mount a significant counter-strike.
As President-elect Trump assumes office next month, he can look forward to counting on Bibi to continue to defeat terrorism in the Middle East to the benefit of Israel and the United States alike. In spite of the abundant bad advice of others.
READ MORE from Steve Postal:
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Putting Jihadists on Notice, Israel Racks Up Critical Win in Syria
Trump Gets Mixed Press From Muslim World
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