Israel experienced a preemptive attack upon its nation, which was the worst massacre in its history by Iranian proxy Hamas, carried out with Iranian arms and funded by Iran. It opened Pandora's box, forcing Israel to fight a war for its survival, knowing that without it, there would be many more attacks like October 7 or worse. 

The new twenty-first-century wars are proxy wars, but they are also media wars. 

ISRAEL CANNOT WIN A MEDIA WAR 
It's only a question of time before the United Nations global club of Zionist haters will turn international public opinion against Israel with the assistance of the media.  

ISRAEL CANNOT WIN AN ECONOMIC WAR 
It's a tiny country the size of New Jersey, with its residents from the north and south displaced and its citizens at war. The economic damage to the country is massive. Iran has a much bigger proxy in Lebanon with more than double the terrorists than Hamas has and more than 10 times the missiles than Hamas has, and much more sophisticated. 

Iran has been waging a war against the "Little Satan" Israel for decades. October 7 was Israel's Pearl Harbor, in which Iran decided to move to a much greater extreme. Iran has been waging a war against the "Great Satan" America for decades also. On October 23, 1983, I preached the gospel to the Marines in Beirut, giving them the Christmas gift of a small Bible. 

A young soldier, 18, from Worcester, Massachusetts, asked me if I could send a message to his mom. So, I had my camera crew tape it. He said, "Dear Mom, I know you've been praying for me. I won't be coming home for Christmas. But I have a Christmas gift for you. I've just accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Merry Christmas, Mom."

That Marine and 240 others were dead in the morning. I slept on the beach that night.  

Since then, Iran has conducted ongoing attacks on numerous countries in a long-term effort to exert influence in the region. A 2021 State Department report observed that in that year alone, "Iran pursued or supported terrorist attacks against Israeli targets in 2021, including a thwarted January plot to attack an Israeli embassy in East Africa, a January bomb attack outside the Israeli embassy in New Delhi for which the Indian government said the IRGC-QF was responsible, and a disrupted attempt to attack an Israeli businessman in Cyprus."  

According to a CBS News report, the United States presently has the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in the Red Sea south of Israel, including an array of weapons and 5,000 sailors. The US also has a nuclear power Ohio-class submarine in the area, the Ford Carrier Strike Group in the Mediterranean Sea, which includes three ballistic missile defense ships and four additional warships in the Mediterranean. 

In addition, the Pentagon has deployed 1,200 additional troops to the Middle East since October 7. The forces are a deterrent for protecting 45,000 US service members and contractors throughout the Middle East.   Iran has attacked US troops over 40 times since October 7. A reported 56 US military personnel have been injured. The US has responded with three sets of strikes so far in Syria. with airstrikes in Syria, with more likely to come. 

Everyone is worrying about where this could lead. The reality is that there is no question where this will lead. It's only a matter of time until Iran's more powerful proxy is authorized to attack Israel fully. Hezbollah, since October 7, has fired over 1,000 rockets into Israel. Six IDF soldiers and three Israeli civilians have been killed so far.  

This will put Israel's back up against a wall. In every Israeli Air Force barracks, there is a picture they have to pass before leaving. The picture is a picture of Auschwitz and the railroad tracks with the words, "We, the Israeli Air Force pilots, fly in the skies over the camp of atrocities. But we've risen from the ashes of the millions of victims, and we carry their silent cry. We salute their courage and pledge to serve as the defenders of the Jewish people and the State of Israel." 

The Brigadier General who hosted me that day, Tomer Bar, wrote in the picture, "The voice of the thunder was in the heaven. The earth trembled and shook" Psalm 28:19. 

October 7 flushed the smoke of Auschwitz into the soul of the nation of Israel, creating trauma that Israel has never experienced and waking them up to a stark reality. A lot of Israelis were peaceniks. In the kibbutz, where I was invited by the foreign minister of Israel, Eli Cohen, as he hosted the Foreign Minister of Ireland and other dignitaries, many Israelis were burned alive, beheaded, and raped. 

America's facing a presidential election in 2024. It was once a famous saying, "It's the economy, stupid." Now, the reality is that the priority is Iran. "It's Iran, stupid." Israel is going to have to face an Iran terror state that will have an atomic bomb before the next presidential election in November 2024. 

If Hitler had an atomic bomb, the world would be speaking German. Iran is a terrorist state driven by Mullahs with an obsession to usher in the Mahdi, the twelfth descendant of Muhammad, through an apocalypse, believing that the moment the apocalypse happens, and he is resurrected, the entire world will bow down and become an Islamic caliphate. 

They boldly said their intentions of what they were doing to Israel. Iran's supreme leader has called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that "will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed." It's not a question of if. It's a question of when Israel will be forced to attack Iran, but that apocalyptic date has been pushed up because of October 7. Israel is faced with an existential dilemma. Iran has a partner now, Russia, and, for that matter, China also. 

With Russia, Iran's partnership was formalized over the drones that they sent to Russia to use in the war with Ukraine.  

A head Israel general and intelligence leader told me off the record that Russia has agreed to assist Iran with its nuclear program. They have also agreed to provide a nuclear umbrella for Iran, with planes flying over Iranian airspace like they have in Syria. This would make it virtually impossible for Israel to go to war against Iran in light of its nuclear program.  

What are Israel's options? The only window they have is to deal with Iran before the umbrella is in the sky and before Iran has an atomic bomb. But how do you deal with Iran when it intends to take out Israel with a nuclear bomb? 

Another Iranian proxy, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, have also joined in the war against Israel. The group fired a medium-range ballistic missile toward Israel last month, with the Israel Defense Forces intercepting it with its Arrow air defense system. It marked the first time a missile had been destroyed from space, adding to outstanding technological military achievements by the Israeli military. 

During the Yom Kippur War, when Golda Meir was faced with the possibility of losing, Israel reportedly opened its nuclear silos for US satellites to observe. This caused an instant reaction from the United States in assisting Israel.  

If the US continues to appease Iran with what they call a proportional response, Israel will be forced into an apocalyptic dilemma. How do you stop Iran from wiping Israel off the map with a nuclear bomb? It could be that Israel will be forced to do the unthinkable and authorize the Samson Option against Iran as a preemptive strike on Iran to save the State of Israel, in a decision similar to President Harry Truman's move to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, and three days later on Nagasaki, to help end World War II. 

US SHOULD STRIKE IRAN
There's only one way this can be prevented, and that is if the US courageously has a preemptive strike on Iran itself, destroying all the oil refineries and ports for shipping. This could be done over a very short period. Iran would have minimal capability to confront the US. If they attempted to do so, the US has the power to bomb Iran into the Stone Age, and they know that.  

In essence, the US could, in 72 hours, bankrupt Iran by destroying its ports and oil refineries. Iran has made $10 billion off the US under the Biden administration. An attack would stop these finances from promoting terror, and the people of Iran would have the power to overthrow the government.  
Another option would be to attack Kharg Island. This would send a signal to Iran of what is to come if they do not back down. The Kharg Island oil terminal reportedly exports 80% of the country's daily 2.2 million barrels. 

The US needs to bankrupt Iran and its terror state to prevent an apocalyptic crisis that is on the horizon and to send a signal to any would-be terror.

The author is the founder of Friends of Zion.