{"id":318351,"date":"2026-03-02T19:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T19:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/318351\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T19:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T19:50:07","slug":"britain-walks-a-mile-in-israels-shoes-commentary-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/318351\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain Walks a Mile in Israel\u2019s Shoes \u2013 Commentary Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel\u2019s retaliatory attacks on Iran in October 2024 were carefully designed to avoid hitting Iran\u2019s nuclear program or destroying its energy infrastructure. They did, however, prove to Tehran that Israel had the capability to hit targets inside Iran virtually at will and to take control of Iranian airspace.<\/p>\n

This is what we call an \u201coff-ramp.\u201d It was recognized as such at the time. \u201cIsrael\u2019s Calibrated Attack On Iran Gives Both Countries An Off-Ramp,\u201d pronounced<\/a> Radio Free Europe. Jonathan Schanzer, contributing editor to COMMENTARY and executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, concurred<\/a>: \u201cI think the Israelis are, from what I can tell, listening to the Biden administration, allowing for that off-ramp to its enemies. Even though they have the upper hand from what we can tell, we\u2019ll see whether the Iranian regime and we\u2019ll see whether its proxies are willing to comply.\u201d<\/p>\n

So did the Atlantic Council\u2019s Jonathan Panikoff, who said<\/a> Iran would probably take the out: \u201cIsrael\u2019s attacks, which may continue in different guises, were clearly calculated and targeted. Their impact may be significant. But if Iranian officials downplay them\u2014and reports they claimed to have successfully countered the attack are a good start\u2014consider it a signal that Tehran is looking for an off-ramp, even if it claims otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving Iran an off-ramp after October 7 was extraordinarily kind. Iran, as we know, didn\u2019t take that latest of many, many, many chances to \u201cde-escalate\u201d its forever war against the Jews. Its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and its continued use of proxy militias to attack Americans and Israelis and hold global shipping lanes hostage necessitated action. (Iran also rejected diplomatic solutions to the crisis.) The U.S. and Israel did what had to be done, destroying nuclear infrastructure and taking out terrorist figures.<\/p>\n

Iran didn\u2019t take the hint that time either. So here we are: The ayatollah is dead, and the remnants of his regime have more punishment coming.<\/p>\n

At work here is a very simple principle: Those who start wars don\u2019t retain the right to decide when they end, with the exception of accepting the other side\u2019s terms of settlement.<\/p>\n

The reason that Israel\u2019s earlier strikes were considered \u201coff-ramps\u201d is because they demonstrated that Israel had capabilities to hit Iran in ways the Iranians perhaps didn\u2019t realize. Therefore, the strikes served as a warning: Push this war too far and you will pay a high price.<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t need to be said but it apparently does: The fact that Iran ignored repeated warnings isn\u2019t America\u2019s fault. The fact that Iran rejected an off-ramp offered by the country it has been trying to destroy for decades isn\u2019t Israel\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n

Yet years and years of the international community\u2019s warping beyond repair terms like \u201cproportionality\u201d have gotten bad actors used to the idea that they can choose not only to start a war but also to determine how far its victim can go in response\u2014especially when the victim of the attack is Israel.<\/p>\n

This dynamic has launched a thousand and one \u201cI abhor the attacks on Israel, but\u2026\u201d declarations. Now that Israel isn\u2019t fighting this conflict alone, those statements fall by the wayside because nobody wants to apply such equivocations to their own population. Thus we have Keir Starmer\u2019s initial reluctance to help the war effort and then suddenly discovering his moral compass when British targets came under Iranian missile attack.<\/p>\n

Starmer announced<\/a> yesterday that he will now allow the U.S. to us British bases to launch counterattacks against Iran for a very simple reason: \u201cThe only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source, in their storage depots or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly even those who don\u2019t want to get involved in this conflict abstain from making self-degrading, pusillanimous statements about proportionality, or \u201cjust taking the win,\u201d or other such euphemisms for permitting one\u2019s attacker to remain on his feet. Now that Britons are being threatened, Europeans find clarity: You must neutralize the threat, not because you like war but because you have an obligation to neutralize the threat.<\/p>\n

Suddenly even Keir Starmer knows he cannot settle for some point-making retaliatory strikes and call it a day.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the real world, everyone. You\u2019re late.<\/p>\n

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