Having come to Canada in 2017 from war-torn Syria, Aboud Dandachi has enjoyed not just physical safety but newfound freedoms—including the freedom to interact with Israelis. He was thus eager to attend a talk at York University by a group of IDF reservists. There he encountered a rude surprise:

Shortly before the event started, a large group of people waving Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israel, pro-intifada slogans through speakerphones made its way up to the floor where the event was to be held. During the event, they proceeded to bang on the doors to the auditorium and to use the speakerphones to drown out the event being held inside. Several times, the event was interrupted by hateful, angry individuals who had come in with every intention of being as disruptive and disrespectful as possible. Outside, their friends made sure to cover every exit from the auditorium and blare their slogans non-stop.

I was astonished at the number of police officers and private security guards that were required to keep the angry crowd outside away from those inside the auditorium. Bashar al-Assad, when he triumphantly drove into the formerly rebel-held Damascus neighborhood of Ghouta, hadn’t required such a large security detail.

One [attendee] compared the happenings of that night with her experience under the KGB in the Soviet Union. The KGB, like the Syrian secret police, were thugs dedicated to imposing and policing an orthodoxy of thought. No dissenting opinion to be tolerated. Just as the angry crowd outside were not about to tolerate any opposing opinion.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.