Israel stood up to the neighborhood bully, Iran. Other nations nearby noticed. A couple of them even cheered. Jordan and Saudi Arabia participated, but said it was only as self-protection. Open alliance with Israel is still not popular in the Arab street.
Israel promised retaliation. Some kind of action was even scheduled, but was postponed, (twice). That may have been due to American influence. Iranian air defenses are made in Russia. Those same missiles and guns are used by Syria. The Israeli Air Force has proved that it can strike targets in Syria effectively (and without suffering losses). I’m sure the Iranians know this very well. But having the ability does not mean you need to exercise it. A Chess grandmaster once said that making a threat was much stronger than carrying it out. But Iran also needs to know that their threats are not what is restraining Israel.
Iran already has serious economic woes, and the EU and USA are about to add additional sanctions to make the Iranian economy even worse. It’s time for the world to focus on other problems. The Houthis need to stop interfering with international maritime commerce. Iran needs to release the ship that the IRGC pirates captured. And Hamas needs to release ALL the hostages.
The war is not over. Israel has warned Gazans not to try to move north. IAF C-130 cargo planes dropped leaflets over Rafah emphasizing this. The world, meanwhile, needs to focus humanitarian aid on Sudan’s 8 million refugees. They really are starving. (as opposed to the Gazans that Hamas falsely claims are suffering from malnutrition, and have been on the brink of starvation for months). Palestinians in Gaza are miserable. But relief should come to them from Hamas (who hasn’t paid anything for aid to its’ citizens, but funneled funds into weaponry instead). Humanitarian aid to Gaza ought not to be distributed by UNRWA. That agency has been around for 75 years. That’s well past retirement age.
Wetherhorn 