IRAN ATTACK PROMPTS NEXT MOVE FOR US
The spectacle of Iranian missiles and drones heading for Israel, only to be almost entirely intercepted, has inspired astonishment at the first-ever direct attack on Israel from Iran and at the highly effective shield deployed by Israel and its allies, including the United States. But relief at the outcome should not distract from efforts to pass a long-stalled military aid bill for Ukraine, which is defending itself against similar missile attacks, and to resolve the grinding war in Gaza.
In Congress, the two conflicts have been intertwined for months because a Senate bill, the only aid package to pass at least one chamber — and with a chance of clearing both — would fund the defense of Ukraine and Israel. Linking the two made sense after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, as the United States sought to aid two democracies in peril. It also helped build political support for the bill, as it joined proUkraine and pro-Israel lawmakers.
Since the aid bill passed the Senate six months ago, the situation has grown more complex. Concern about Israel’s Gaza operations has risen on the left and opposition to funding Ukraine on the right.
Not only politics counsel haste. Over the House’s six months of pointless delay, by Republicans and at the urging of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Ukraine’s situation has become desperate. Though neither money nor arms can solve Ukraine’s military manpower problems, the country has moved to call up more troops, at the risk that its limited cohort of young Ukrainians will die on the battlefield.
Further delay would help Russian President Vladimir Putin. Backing Ukraine now will show Mr. Putin that he cannot count on a Trump presidency to undercut Western support for Ukraine, as he obviously does.
No matter Mr. Trump’s intentions, a hefty infusion of U.S. aid would see Ukraine through crucial months of fighting, time European countries could use to step up their support. And, however the war ends, providing assistance now would put Ukraine in a favorable position for negotiations later — a position that will protect its aspirations to build its democracy and orient toward Western Europe and the United States.
De-escalation and eventual peacemaking should also be the order of the day in the Middle East. Over the weekend, Iran’s attack was repulsed in the skies not only by the air defenses and warplanes of the Jewish state but also by vital help from the United States, Jordan, France and Britain. This alliance’s quick work was a welcome demonstration of resolve and an illustration. President Biden is wise to urge Israel to avoid a tit-for-tat escalation with Iran, and the wider war that could bring. As long as it maintains its international relationships, Israel has shown that it can act in its own defense and fend off Iranian attacks.
To keep those relationships, and to end the intolerable suffering of civilian men, women and children, Israel’s priority should be the swiftest possible conclusion to the war in Gaza. That requires ensuring immediate humanitarian relief reaches desperate Palestinians. It means developing a credible endgame for the military operation that respects civilian lives, and a new political dispensation in Gaza that both sidelines Hamas and provides Gazans some measure of hope for their future.
The first step would be a sixweek truce that Israel and Hamas have been negotiating on and off for weeks, including release of hostages held by Hamas. After this weekend, Hamas’s leaders should understand that no Iranian or Iranian-backed offensive will rescue them — in part because the United States, despite its recent quarrels with the Netanyahu government, remains committed to Israel’s security.
Both conflicts still appear far from resolution. As it did over Israel’s skies last weekend, the United States can leverage its unique capabilities to stave off the worst.