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OSIRAK 2.0
Back in 1981, Israel was facing a nascent Iraqi nuclear weapons program and dispatched F-16s from Etzion Air Force base in the Negev to destroy the Osirak reactor facility. The long-distance attack implemented the tough, uncompromising Begin Doctrine established to prevent any hostile nation from possessing weapons of mass destruction.
Prime Minister Menachem Begin famously warned, “If someone says they intend to kill you, believe them.” Regarding the Osirak attack he explained, “We chose this moment: now, not later, because later may be too late, perhaps forever. And if we stood by idly, two, three years, at the most four years, and Saddam Hussein would have produced his three, four, five bombs…”
Over the weeks following the destruction of Osirak in Iraq, Israel was widely condemned by many leaders including President Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Not surprisingly, the United Nations and almost all major publications objected strongly. Reagan, for a period of time, suspended delivery of F-16s to Israel. Years later, military experts applauded Israel’s decisiveness. Some compared Israel’s initiative to President Truman’s dispatch of the Enola Gay’ to bomb Hiroshima tin order to bring a quick end to World War II.
On January 20, President Donald Trump enters the White House fully aware the Iranian nuclear program is a “sword of Damocles” hanging above the head of our ally Israel. The Iranian chants of “death to Israel” and “death to America” derive from the Qur’an where it states, “Prepare whatever resources and troops you must to terrorize the enemies of G-d.”
President Trump will have an “Osirak 2.0” opportunity. Like courageous Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, President Trump can rid the world of a terrible menace. Trump can prevent what, in essence, would be a second Holocaust.
For decades, Iran has been pursuing nuclear weapons with the express purpose to destroy Israel and to threaten America and the West. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts confirm that Iran is nearing the necessary amount of fissile materials to fuel several bombs. Now, after decades of deception, delays and obfuscation, and benefiting from President Obama’s ill-conceived Iran Nuclear Deal, also known as the JCPOA, and President Biden’s weak-kneed and inexplicable elimination of financial sanctions, Iran stands at the nuclear weapons threshold.
Israel’s multi-layered air defense systems has so far been largely successful defending against Iran’s ballistic missile barrages. Nonetheless, these large weapons offer Iran a potential delivery vehicle for a nuclear warhead, and just one can sneak through and effectively destroy all of Israel.
Since the 2024 election, where protection of Israel and reestablishing America’s international standing were part of his successful mandate, President Trump has assembled a hardline cadre of Cabinet appointments, senior advisors and Congressional leaders. President Biden’s embarrassingly botched Afghanistan withdrawal looms as a cautionary tale that President Trump will heed. While President Trump will include in his Iran doctrine maximum economic pressure to squeeze their economy and encourage civil unrest, destruction of their nuclear weapons threat must be the centerpiece.
President Trump, no doubt, is carefully weighing applying the unparalleled strength of our military in collaboration with Israel’s air force for this historic opportunity. American’s ten-ton MOAB (massive ordinance air blast) can destroy the deep underground weapons laboratories, and already Israel has claimed control of the skies revealing Iranian vulnerability to air assault. Additionally, Israel has laid waste to Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, has increased its attack on the Houthis, has gutted Syrian assets and has killed terrorist leaders on Iranian soil.
Israel has just recently decimated Iran’s air defenses thus rendering her vulnerable to destruction of the widespread, dug in nuclear facilities. Their petroleum industry is also in the Israeli crosshairs. Attacks by Israel, America and the British forces on Houthi sites in Yemen demonstrate the effectiveness of a coalition’s coordinated attacks.
“Osirak 2.0” is a unique, strategic opportunity for President Trump. Notwithstanding the seriousness of any military event, it is a proverbial geopolitical slam dunk. He must remain resolute and early on in his second term assert America’s strength against a truly evil foe. President Trump can add to his unparalleled pro-Israel credentials and eliminate the potential of a nuclear catastrophe.