Bibi’s Choice

It can be argued that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s impending decision on how to respond to the recent Iranian ballistic missile attacks is the most consequential choice ever faced by a Jewish leader.

That’s a bold declaration. After all, the Jewish people have somehow survived despite a three-millennium history facing adversity. At a minimum, Bibi’s dilemma places him alongside consequential leaders from the Biblical, Talmudic, Medieval and more contemporary eras.

But it seems few Jewish leaders have faced such complex circumstances and with existential risks. The Wall Street Journal just reported “…Tehran has significantly advanced its program, leaving it on the cusp of being able to develop a nuclear weapon…” Simply put, Bibi must prevent yet another Holocaust and secure the long-term safety of Israel.

About half of the world’s Jewish population now lives in a besieged Israel that is fighting a hot war on seven fronts. IDF soldiers are battling in Gaza and Lebanon, and the pain from the horrific October 7^th massacre has seared the soul of Israelis. Iranian proxy Hezbollah daily rains down hundreds of rockets on northern Israel. The Houthis have shot missiles at Israel as well as at supportive American Navy vessels. These malign forces are funded and motivated by Iran, whose fanatical hatred of Israel is fueled with apocalyptic intent. Iran’s relentless drive for nuclear weaponry is ticking down and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t allow another Hitlerian liquidation.

Bibi can now consider the April and October missile attacks as a casus belli justifying Israel to unleash her significant forces and to critically damage the belligerent Iranian regime. His response cannot be symbolic, but instead one that garners the fullest respect of a Middle East adversary. He must also view the seriously degraded Hamas and the decapitated Hezbollah organization as a timely tactical opportunity to strike out at Iran. Bibi can envision, in the best case, economic chaos triggering an uprising of the Iran’s subjugated people that overthrows of the mullahs.

At the same time, Bibi must assess the head spinning ramifications of an escalation: Israel could sustain significant damage from an all-out war, Iran is part of an axis of evil with China and Russia, destruction of oil production at Kharg Island or elsewhere in Iran would disrupt oil markets, and the balance of power in the Gulf region could somehow be altered. Israel must also be unsure of how the United States would respond; and, she cannot rely on the waffling support from the Western nations and is all too familiar with the animus of a hypocritical United Nations.

Bibi is at a gut-wrenching crossroads and his “game theory” calculus must integrate all these risks and benefits.

The importance of the American-Israel alliance adds to the confluence of challenges influencing Bibi’s decision. In one month, America will elect a president, and recent polls of Israelis show a two-to-one clear majority favoring former President Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris. A comparison of the histories of the tough, sanctions-imposing Trump presidency versus the conciliatory, sanctions-relieving Obama-Biden-Harris Administrations explains a large part of the Israelis’ strong preference.

Most recently, Trump has validated Israel’s right to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, while Biden and Harris have openly counseled against it. The Biden-Harris Administration have also added restrictions preventing attacks on the petroleum facilities. Harris and Biden continue to press for appeasing negotiations, ceasefires and response proportionality. American weapons shipment delays have occurred as part of Biden’s politicized, meddling pressure, and France’s President Macron has just halted arms shipments.

Wars are won when one army demonstrates disproportionate force. President Roosevelt on December 8,1941, in his declaration of war against Japan, called for absolute victory.

Looking back, we can consider other more recent Jewish leaders and the crucial decisions they faced.

–During the World War II years, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the influential spokesperson for American Jews, acquired information proving the grim reality of the Holocaust. He had to decide if he would press “his close friend” President Roosevelt to rescue Europe’s Jews. Many argue Wise chose poorly by staying quiet deferring to FDR’s charm and succumbing to his desire to be near to Executive power. History shows that Roosevelt slow-walked many initiatives that would have reduced the number of murdered Jews. For instance, he refused to bomb the railroad lines leading to the death camps.

–David Ben-Gurion, only six months after United Nations passed Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine, chose to declare Israel’s independence despite the vast armies of the Arab nations. He knew President Truman’s State Department was in opposition, but he felt the time was right. The fight was bloody, and many died in the conflict, but his sense of urgency was rewarded with the creation of the Jewish State.

–Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, in 1967, watched the Egyptians and Syrians prepare for war, and he witnessed the cowardly United Nations abrogated the commitment to protect the Straits of Tiran. Eshkol acted with preemptive strikes against Egypt and Syrian air forces. The non-nuclear Israel won, and his decision has been hailed as courageous and correct.

–In 1973. Prime Minister Golda Meir had intelligence information that war was about to break out. She acquiesced to the faulty wisdom of her military advisers. While Israel eventually prevailed, the nearly 2700 military deaths were testament to the error in her thinking.

–Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1981 destroyed the Osirak Iraqi reactor. He received harsh criticism from many, including President Reagan, but was posthumously praised for his bravery. The Begin Doctrine posits that Israel will not allow another threatening country to develop nuclear weapons.

Bibi Netanyahu, in his earlier years, served in the IDF special forces unit, Seyeret Matkal, and was twice wounded in combat. His brother was killed in the successful Entebbe Raid. None of the American presidential candidates or leaders of what ought to be supportive Western nations have his kind of battlefield experience.

At this precarious moment, let’s be distracted by the Israeli political morass or Bibi’s personal difficulties. The political unrest in Israel preoccupied many American Jews, and they conflated it with similar issues dividing the American political landscape. The complexity of the Israeli parliamentary form of government necessitates alliances to craft a Knesset majority, and sometimes very unattractive compromises have had to be made. And his culpability, and that of his subordinates, in allowing on the October 7th attack, has yet to be determined.

Bibi Netanyahu deserves America’s fullest support in these perilous times. “Don’t let great be the enemy of the good” is popular advice conveying the wisdom to seek a practicable pathway and to avoid effort to attain perfection. Biblical-era characters too were flawed, but marched forward, albeit with Divine intervention, and they led the Jewish people to create Eretz Yisrael.

We can assume Bibi knows well that in The Talmud, in Sanhedrin 72 A, it states “The Torah instructs us: if one is coming to kill you, rise up and kill them first.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu especially needs American Jews to show him respect and to appreciate his agonizing choices. He surely needs American Jews to vote for a president who will stand faithfully by his side.