Yesterday, Hizballah carried out multiple attacks on northern Israel, wounding five soldiers, and air defenses shot down what appeared to be a drone that had crossed the border from Lebanon. The IDF responded with multiple airstrikes on Hizballah positions. On Sunday, meanwhile, it began the process of pulling units out of Gaza, perhaps in preparation for escalation along the northern border. The Iran-backed terrorist group is better trained and equipped than Hamas, and has an even more extensive and sophisticated network of tunnels, some of which are designed for cross-border attacks.

After the experience of October 7, Israelis are unwilling to live with this threat, and Jerusalem appears to hope that there will be a political solution, involving the U.S., France, and regional powers. But if no satisfactory resolution is forthcoming, Washington is likely to try to prevent Israel from striking preemptively. Michael Oren argues that the Jewish state might have to ignore such warnings:

Whenever America tells us “Don’t go to war” and we [in Israel] reply, “Yes, but”—in 1948, in 1956, in 1967, in 1981 (the destruction of the Iraqi reactor)—we earn respect from Washington. When we answer with, “Yes, alright”—as was the case in 1973 and in 1991 (the first Gulf War)—we are looked at with contempt from the White House. Today, as Americans keep telling us “Don’t go to war against Hizballah and open a northern front,” it is imperative that we look back at past such interactions.

Israel faces an intolerable situation in the north and a threat that no sovereign state in the world would tolerate. Among Israeli decision-makers, there is hope that our victory over Hamas will deter Hizballah, but that victory will likely take time. In the meantime, there is a danger that Hizballah will wait until the IDF tires and American support for Israel wanes, and then it will open fire.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.