Radical Islam is at war with Western civilization, argues Ezra Levant, and has been for years. But many in the West have preferred to pretend otherwise—and in that respect, Israel is at an advantage:

It’s almost irrelevant whether or not you acknowledge there is a war. But it’s not totally irrelevant, because if you do not acknowledge you are in a war, you probably don’t stand a chance to win that war.

Last year alone, 6,000 Jews left France, many for Israel. Why would they leave France—a strong, free, liberal country of 66 million people in the heart of Europe, a nuclear power, a NATO power, a country with a seat on the UN Security Council—to go to Israel, a country of just 8 million, surrounded by hostile dictatorships and terrorist groups? Who would imagine that could be safer?

Israel is besieged, it’s surrounded. But it has one advantage over the West: it is not in denial. No one in Israel, not even the far left, pretends that there is no jihad; no one in Israel talks about terrorists being just “lone wolves” or “crazy”; no one in Israel, not even the left-wing media, starts the coverage of any terrorist attack by denying that a Muslim was really Muslim, or denying that terrorism was really terrorism. They don’t blame the victim—those cartoonists were so mean to Muhammad, what can you expect as a response to George W. Bush, et cetera, ad nauseam.

In 2003, the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, spooked by the American display of might in Iraq, decided to destroy or surrender his entire nuclear program. Informed observers have suggested that the deal he made with the U.S. should serve as a model for any agreement with Iran. Robert Joseph provides some useful background:

Gaddafi had convinced himself that Libya would be next on the U.S. target list after Iraq. There was no reason or need to threaten Libya with bombing as Gaddafi was quick to tell almost every visitor that he did not want to be Saddam Hussein. The images of Saddam being pulled from his spider hole . . . played on his mind.

President Bush’s goal was to have Libya serve as an alternative model to Iraq. Instead of war, proliferators would give up their nuclear programs in exchange for relief from economic and political sanctions.

Any outcome that permits Iran to enrich uranium at any level will fail the one standard that President Trump has established: Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Limiting enrichment even to low levels will allow Iran to break out of the agreement at any time, no matter what the agreement says.

Iran is not a normal government that observes the rules of international behavior or fair “dealmaking.” This is a regime that relies on regional terror and brutal repression of its citizens to stay in power. It has a long history of using negotiations to expand its nuclear program. Its negotiating tactics are clear: extend the negotiations as long as possible and meet any concession with more demands.