Israel’s Reservists: More Unsung and More Heroic Than Ever
Israel’s air force and intelligence services, working in tandem with their American counterparts, have dealt a series of devastating blows to Iran in the last week. For good reason, many people following the fighting, whatever their views on the wisdom of launching these attacks, have been awestruck by the spectacular successes that began with the decapitation of the Islamic Republic’s leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Writing as an Israeli for whom the weakening of our country’s most deadly enemy is a welcome strategic development, I am deeply appreciative of the men and women in the forefront of this campaign.
But the brilliance of our fighter pilots, IDF intelligence and cyber units, and the Mossad should not blind us to the unsung heroes of this campaign: tens of thousands of combat reservists who once again answered their nation’s call and are serving in every place in which Israel must defend itself against potentially devastating threats. Iran is vastly outgunned in its head-to-head military conflict with US and Israel and is desperate to land a blow that will hammer at Israeli morale, boost Iranians’ pride, and ideally provide strategic assets. To this end, their Islamist regime has been seeking to act through its proxies and allies in the so-called “ring of fire” surrounding Israel, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza, and Houthis and Iraqi militias capable of infiltrating into the Jewish state through Jordan. The aim is to carry out mass-casualty attacks that sow terror among Israelis and, ideally, take live hostages who can serve as bargaining chips for a regime that otherwise lacks leverage.
What prevents Iran from carrying out this strategy is a living, mobile wall composed of thousands of platoons of men and........
