Sometimes War Serves the Light:The Israeli Decapitation of Iranian Nuclear Ambitions
Sermon Shabbat Beha’alotecha 5785, Rabbi Sam Cohon, Congregation Beit Simcha, Tucson, AZ
There is an old curse you may know: may you live in interesting times. My friends, we live in interesting times.
As you know from your news feeds, last night Israel preemptively attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, as well as removing the leaders of its military and the scientists who headed its program to develop atomic weapons. In a series of lightning airstrikes and targeted preemptive operations within Iran, Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, its ballistic missiles, and in airstrikes on Teheran and elsewhere killed the head of the Revolutionary Guards, the leader of the Iranian nuclear weapons program and its leading nuclear scientists. According to the Israel Defense Forces, Iran had enough Uranium to build 15 nuclear weapons within days, and the Israeli military believed that Israel’s survival was at stake. The IDF confirmed that the Israel Air Force and Mossad operation was designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the Iranian regime are an existential threat to the State of Israel and the wider world,” the Israeli military spokesman said.
Israeli intelligence revealed that in recent days Iran had developed a plan with Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist proxies to attack and destroy the State of Israel, including attempts to attack across all borders, including Egypt and Jordan. That marked the point of no return for the preemptive attack.
As we all know, Iran was behind the October 7, 2023, Hamas war crime attack that began the Gaza War, and behind the Hezbollah attacks on Israel from October 2023-November 2024 that lasted until Israel wiped out Hezbollah’s leadership and destroyed much of its military capacity last fall.
Iran also directly attacked Israel in April 2024, and then again in October 2024 with ballistic missiles and drones. Israel, with the cooperation of the United States, Jordan and Saudi Arabia was able to fend off those attacks, and in October 2024 responded by knocking most of Iran’s anti-aircraft capacity and much of its ballistic missile production, but was dissuaded at the time by the US from attacking the Iranian nuclear program.
In recent weeks the Trump Administration has been negotiating with Iran to stop working on nuclear weapons, and a meeting was originally scheduled for Sunday—but it is won’t take place now, of course. It is unclear if Israel coordinated these attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military and nuclear leadership with the US at any level. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Israeli attacks, “unilateral.” On the other hand, President Trump undercut that message from his own representative, by saying, more or less, “We knew everything beforehand and tried to get the Iranians to make concessions. But they wouldn’t do it.”
So far, Israel’s attack has been spectacularly effective militarily and strategically. I think Israel wanted to do something like this after Iran attacked directly twice, first last April and then again in October. They waited for a new administration in America, and I believe hoped for a joint US-Israeli operation. But when President Trump was less than enthusiastic about that, they finally decided to go ahead alone.
Nobody knows what the end-result of this situation will really be. But preventing Iran from going nuclear was an essential Israeli strategy for a long time, certainly for 20 years and you could make a case for longer. The recent UN oversight panel that sanctioned Iran for ignoring restrictions on enriching uranium and violating the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (which was a shock coming from a UN organization) was a green light for Israel. This was especially true as the US seemed intent on negotiating with the Iranian regime, but Iran was refusing to commit to not having nuclear weapons.
Iran’s military response so far indicates they don’t have all that much left at this moment. And Israel didn’t take out their oil industry so there’s still that implied threat.
Unlike the resumption of IDF offensive operations in Gaza, which still make no sense to me at all and to have no endgame in mind, this attack on the Iranians appears to be far better thought out, and existentially necessary. Strategically, and even tactically, it is similar to what Israel did to the Hezbollah terrorists that freed Lebanon and Syria from their control and radically diminished the threat that Hezbollah posed to Israeli civilians.
I suspect that if they wanted to, the IDF could have taken out Ayatollah Khameini, the “Supreme” leader of Iran, too.
Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, wrote today:
“Israel’s overnight strike in Iran was a necessity. A regime that repeatedly declares its strategic goal to be the “total annihilation of Israel” cannot be allowed to possess the nuclear capability with which to achieve that goal.
“A regime that has twice launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel — in April and October last year — has no right to expect immunity.
“A regime that for years fueled deadly terrorism, both directly and through proxies, across the Middle East and beyond, that bankrolled the October 7 massacre and Hezbollah’s missile attacks against Israeli civilians, declared war on us long ago. What Iran is facing now are the consequences of that war.
“Israel did not seek this — just as it did not seek the war in Gaza. But we are determined to win. What does victory look like? An Iran without a nuclear capability. An Iran deterred from further escalation. An Iran that understands it cannot spread terrorism in the region without paying a price.
“The opening hours of this operation have shown what Israel is capable of, the strength and sophistication of our armed forces and the depth of our intelligence. Those who stand behind Iran’s nuclear program and its terrorist infrastructure can’t run and they can’t hide.
“As with Gaza, this war is not against the people of Iran. This war is against the fanatical Iranian leadership that is the enemy of freedom-loving people everywhere – in Iran, in Israel and across the world.
“This is not the first time the Iranian leadership is misreading Israel. We are a thriving democracy. There is no hiding the disagreements in our country and the passionate debates in our politics. Iran’s leaders assume that democracy is the source of our weakness. The opposite is true; it is the source of our strength.
“Israel has always stood united in the face of existential threats. I stand fully behind the goals of this operation and behind our security services. The opposition will offer assistance in any way that it can to ensure the success of the mission.
“When it comes to the security of the people of Israel in the face of our enemies, we are one people, with one mission. Our children will not live in fear of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Not today, not ever.”
Iran has responded with a series of ballistic missile attacks that, to this point, have had limited impact on Israel. Two Israelis are in critical condition, and forty more were wounded. That is challenging, and our fellow Jews are huddled in bomb shelters again, as they were so often during the first months of the Gaza War. But so far, Iran appears to be unable to mount a serious military response. We pray that remains the case.
A nuclear Iran, led by Islamist theocratic fanatics, as it is, would threaten not only Israel but Europe, America, and all democratic nations. In destroying that capacity, Israel has protected freedom for many peoples all over the world. It is an unfortunate truth that the world would have stood by and allowed Iran to become a danger to everyone. Only Israel took on that challenge and saved many nations, and literally millions of people, from that threat.
My friends, we all seek peace in the Middle East, and want Israel to be accepted for what it is, the only democracy in the region and the only modern nation there that has civil rights and freedom of speech. No one should be happy that Israel is more directly at war than it was before this, even after the incredible success it has had militarily today. War, even successful war, is always terrible in so many ways, and there are always unexpected results, which are often also bad.
Ultimately, this situation won’t be fully resolved on the battlefield. There will be negotiation and diplomacy. But for now, the Iranian regime, which has preached genocide against the Jewish State for generations, has been shockingly damaged, and its capacity to quite literally threaten the existence of Israel, has been destroyed for the present. And that is, in fact, a good thing.
In Beha’alotecha, our Torah portion, our ancestors were commanded to create the first menorah, the enduring symbol of Judaism. The lighting of this ritual lamp is a reminder, too, that our people is commanded to be an Or LaGoyim, a light to the nations. That light sometimes requires that we militarily stand up against adversaries of freedom and justice, and those who would destroy us. Israel has done so today. We hope that what will follow can lead to a safer, more stable, more peaceful region and world.