The IDF’s recent strike on Iranian weapons’ factories has important significance for the war in Ukraine. Last month, the Pentagon stated that Iran had begun exporting ballistic missiles to Russia—the same missiles it fired at Israel on October 1. Unable to produce more and wishing to save its stocks to use against the Jewish state, Tehran is unlikely to have any more to spare for Vladimir Putin. And the relationship works both ways: the high-end anti-aircraft missile launchers the IDF recently destroyed were made in Russia, which is inclined to want to keep the systems it has to defend against Ukraine. That’s another reason that Jerusalem stands to gain from a better-armed and more aggressive Ukrainian war effort.

With this in mind, it’s easier to understand why the Kremlin has quietly become a patron of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. Ari Heistein and Daniel Rakov write:

As early as 2016, working-level Russian military officials could be spotted at official Houthi military events in Sanaa, surrounded by top Houthi intelligence officers or exchanging gifts with senior Houthi military officials.

Russia does not need the Houthis to win in order for them to remain useful—only not to lose. It has since turned this practical anti-Western alignment of interests into a “principled position” from Moscow’s perspective in which unofficial representatives have even expressed disappointment that moderate Arab states have not followed the Houthi example by taking more aggressive steps against Israel.

Russia is allegedly providing targeting information and instruction in support of the Houthi campaign in the Red Sea. [Moreover], it is evident that Yemenis were sent by Houthi affiliates to fight on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.

The former Israeli chief justice Aharon Barak recently warned that the country could be headed toward civil war due to Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire the head of the Shin Bet, and the opposition thereto. To Amichai Attali, such comments are both “out of touch with reality” and irresponsible—as are those of Barak’s political opponents:

Yes, there is tension and stress, but there is also the unique Israeli sense of solidarity. Who exactly would fight in this so-called civil war? Try finding a single battalion or military unit willing to go out and kill their own brothers and sisters—you won’t. They don’t exist. About 7 percent of the population represents the extremes of the political spectrum, making the most noise. But if we don’t come to our senses, that number might grow.

And what about you, leader of [the leftwing party] The Democrats and former deputy IDF chief, Yair Golan? You wrote that the soldiers fighting Hamas in Gaza are pawns in Netanyahu’s political survival game. Really? Is that what the tens of thousands of soldiers on the front lines need to hear? Or their mothers back home? Do you honestly believe Netanyahu would sacrifice hostages just to stay in power? Is that what the families of those hostages need right now?

Israeli democracy will not collapse if Netanyahu fires the head of the Shin Bet—so long as it’s done legally. Nor will it fall because demonstrators fill the streets to protest. They are not destroying democracy, nor are they terrorists working for Hamas.