In the 1930s, Winston Churchill was not in power. He observed Germany’s rearmament, denounced as early as 1934 the rise of the Luftwaffe, warned in 1936 after the remilitarization of the Rhineland, and openly opposed the Munich Agreement in 1938. He had no majority — only a diagnosis and a conviction: a totalitarian and expansionist ideology cannot be confronted through concessions.

When France collapsed in May 1940, part of the British cabinet considered mediation with Hitler. Churchill refused. He understood that yielding would not ultimately reduce the human cost — it would increase it.

Churchill also knew that British resistance alone would not suffice. From 1940 onward, he multiplied exchanges with Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Lend-Lease Act of March 1941 (1) constituted the first concrete act of American strategic alignment, later formalized by the Atlantic Charter in August 1941 and ultimately by America’s entry into the war after Pearl Harbor.

For three decades, Benjamin Netanyahu has advanced a similar diagnosis: the Iranian question is central. The nuclear program, ballistic missiles, support for Hezbollah and Hamas, its proxy network, and the openly declared doctrine calling for Israel’s destruction have been his constant focus.

His 2012 address to the UN General Assembly — with the now-famous “red line” diagram — illustrated his determination to set a clear threshold that must not be crossed.

Agreement with the United States was not immediate. Netanyahu confronted what he viewed as American hesitancy and naïveté. Like the “old lion” (2), he challenged President Barack Obama in his address before the US Congress, publicly opposing the Vienna Agreement (3), though without immediate success.

Things began to change with the arrival of Donald Trump, who withdrew from the Vienna Agreement.

It was in this context that the personal and political convergence between Trump and Netanyahu consolidated: recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, relocation of the US embassy, and the signing of the Abraham Accords.

As with Churchill and Roosevelt, we witnessed a strategic alignment: the Iranian question became a structuring axis of the Washington–Jerusalem relationship — rejection of an Iran at the nuclear threshold, refusal of sustained uranium enrichment, and insistence on dismantling sensitive nuclear infrastructure.

In this context, October 7 revealed the full dimension of the Iranian threat through its proxies: financing, arming, and training. The Tehran–Hamas–Hezbollah axis demonstrated its operational reality.

Israel’s response progressively weakened those proxies. Hamas and Hezbollah leaders were eliminated. Hezbollah suffered significant strategic losses. The fall of the Assad regime in Syria — an indirect consequence of the erosion of the Iranian-backed axis — further reduced Iran’s strategic depth in the Levant.

Iran’s protective glacis eroded. Direct confrontation became more manageable. Yet Iran refused to acknowledge this shift. It maintained its uranium enrichment, continued developing ballistic missiles, and sustained support for its proxies.

Washington and Jerusalem realized that time was working against them, and the Twelve-Day War demonstrated that the American–Israeli axis was not merely diplomatic but operational.

Prematurely interrupted, the war has now resumed, with Ayatollah Khamenei having “hardened his heart.”

Just as the relationship of trust Churchill built with Roosevelt made Operation Overlord possible, the relationship of trust Netanyahu patiently built with Donald Trump made possible the operations “The People Rise Like a Lion” and “The Lion’s Roar.”

Great military decisions are the product of political and strategic trust.

Netanyahu, like Churchill, identified the danger of his era with clarity, had the courage to confront it, and possessed the intelligence to forge the alliance necessary for victory.

Let us hope it will be complete — and contribute to making the world a better place.

(1) The United States supplied military equipment, ships, aircraft, munitions, and strategic resources to countries whose defense was deemed “vital to the security of the United States,” without immediate payment.

(2) “Old lion,” as the British press later came to call Churchill.

(3) Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed July 14, 2015.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)