There are moments in history when leaders are called upon not merely to manage events, but to speak moral truth clearly and without hesitation. This is one of those moments.

Israel did not choose this war with Iran. For over four decades, the Iranian regime has declared openly and repeatedly that the Jewish state must be erased from the map. It built the missiles, funded the proxies, and pursued the weapons necessary to turn those threats into reality.

When a nation is confronted with an enemy that publicly seeks its destruction, the moral question is no longer whether to act. The moral question becomes whether we have the courage to act. To defend life, freedom, and civilization itself.

This war must therefore be understood in two parts.

The first part was survival.

The opening round of this conflict removed the most urgent and immediate existential threat to Israel: Iran’s ability to strike us directly and devastate our population centers. The world witnessed a regime that had spent years surrounding Israel with terror armies—from Lebanon to Gaza to Judea and Samaria, Yemen—while racing toward nuclear weapons capabilities that could place millions of Israelis under direct and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)