Israel at war – a repeat of David vs. Goliath?

On Sept. 3, 1939, Britain, in an effort led by Winston Churchill, declared war against Adolf Hitler’s Germany. The Germans had not attacked Britain, so what triggered its declaration of war? It was a promise made by both Britain and France to their ally, Poland, to guarantee its borders against a Nazi invasion.

The German invasion violated a 1934 non-aggression pact Germany had signed with Poland. But both Britain and France recognized that Nazi aggression in Europe had gone far enough and had to be challenged before Hitler’s influence spread across all of Europe and possibly into the U.S. They realized failing to respond to German aggression in 1939 only meant they would have to respond to it later.

It would ultimately take the surprise Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor to trigger a U.S. declaration of war against both Japan and Germany. As one pro-Israel critic now points out, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt lacked courage to join Britain and France in taking on Germany in 1939, only prolonging what eventually had to be done later.

Interestingly, a nation today that shares a similar ideology with the 20th century Nazis – from the standpoint of exterminating all Jews – has openly demonstrated its intent to do so, an intent it has harbored for decades. It was not until Iran fell under the control of extremist mullahs in 1979 that the country embarked upon a sharp anti-Jewish course change mandating Israel’s eradication and initiating a game plan that would target its allies later.

For the most part, Iran has devoted the past four and a half decades to building up an army of proxies to do its bidding against Israel on behalf of mullahs who are supplying these proxies with the funding and war materials to do so. And, while Israel’s allies in the West are in Iran’s gun-sights as well, the mullahs have focused on the more immediate need to erase Israel from the map first. Despite this, Israel’s allies–such as the US, Britain and France–naively fail to grasp the reality Churchill had to grasp in 1939. Thus, the reluctance of those allies to confront Iran now only means they will have to do so later.

However, Israel simply cannot wait for reality to set in for its allies. If they refuse to assist Israel now, Israel will have to go it alone. Doing so not only means its own survival but survival for Western nations that close a collective eye to the world Iran seeks to establish. To the naivete of the West, that world involves a global caliphate ruled by the Quran with all other nations, voluntarily or forcefully, converting to Islam or paying a tax to be allowed to practice a different religion.

The Gaza war – triggered by a raid into Israel involving the terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, that brutally killed 1,200 innocent victims – has now expanded to include other proxies of Iran. The mullahs made their entry into the war known by recently launching 200 missiles into Israel. Sadly, as we await Israel’s response to this attack, some of its allies have foolishly announced they are holding up their war materiel supply lines to Israel. Perhaps the word “foolishly” is insufficiently harsh as it is a sin for Western states to withhold such supplies while Israel single-handedly engages in a war with Iran and its allies. After all, if Israel is successful, it will benefit the West as well.

A year after the Oct. 7 Hamas raid, Israel is now engaged in a seven-front war. In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reported such fronts at the moment include Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, “terrorists” in the West Bank, and the Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, with Iran becoming the seventh.

It is incredible that French President Emmanuel Macron would encourage countries to “stop delivering weapons” to Israel at a time like this. Other countries imposing bans or restrictions on arms sales to Israel include Britain, Italy, Spain, Canada, Belgium and The Netherlands. Fortunately, the U.S., Germany and Denmark have the courage to continue their sales. Unfortunately,, however, under the leadership of President Joe Biden, over $30 billion in frozen assets have been released to Iran, enabling it to fund the war Biden now seeks to stop.

In a one-on-one conflict with Iran or any of its proxies, it would normally be Israel – as the technologically superior combatant giant – in the role of Goliath facing a technologically inferior Islamic opponent in the role of David. But, while Israel retains its technological superiority, in the context of numbers on one side of the battlefield, Iran and its proxies have mutated into a Goliath.

The original David vs. Goliath matchup occurred in the 11th century B.C. with a positive outcome for good over evil. Let us hope for the same outcome today.