Benjamin Netanyahu Stuns the World

What a day for Prime Minister Netanyahu. He strode to the rostrum at the United Nations and delivered a stemwinder of a speech where he castigated the world body as a “swamp of antisemitic bile” where “good is portrayed as evil and evil is portrayed as good.” The premier’s address, though, turned out to be prelude to even more startling news — that Hassan Nasrallah appears to have perished in an attack on Hezbollah’s headquarters.Word of the attack began circulating as Mr. Netanyahu descended the podium. The leader of the Jewish state hurried to his plane with an urgency seeming to override even the traditional reluctance of Israel’s leaders to travel on the Sabbath. Mr. Nasrallah’s fate was yet to be confirmed as we went to press, but reports are trickling out that the arch-terrorist is no longer among the living. If so, prospects for peace would brighten.What a denouement, after a week of denunciations at Turtle Bay, for Mr. Netanyahu and the country he leads. Our Benny Avni relates that the prime minister was subject to a walkout from scores of delegates who otherwise listened warmly to the rantings of representatives of despotic regimes. He tells us, too, that America sent only a “note taker” to hear the premier of one of Washington’s greatest allies. Our high diplomats made it a point to be elsewhere.We imagine that the strike on the Hezbollah high command seized their attention. It appears that the Biden administration was peeved at Mr. Netanyahu’s reluctance to endorse a ceasefire proposal for Lebanon. A spokesman, John Kirby, kvetched that Washington would not have pushed the proposal if the Biden administration “didn’t believe that it would be received with the seriousness with which it was composed.” What strikes us in all of this is just how out of step the White House is with Israel’s determination to win the wars that have been launched against her. In responding to Hezbollah, Jerusalem has not only acted to protect its own citizens, it has delivered a blow to an organization that has much American blood on its hands. The attack has strengthened the West’s position. The United Nations would do well to garland Israel, not condemn her.The world failed to appreciate Mr. Netanyahu’s scoop: “I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran. If you strike us, we will strike you. There is no place — there is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach.” Among all of Tehran’s proxies, Nasrallah enjoyed something like senior status. He had the ear of Iran’s Supreme Leader. Could Israel’s success against Hezbollah change the calculus of the Islamic Republic — and open a path to peace?In 1982, Prime Minister Sharon wrote in the New York Times that the Israel Defense Forces had created the opportunity for “Lebanon to regain its sovereignty and independence, a goal we share with the Lebanese people and with the United States.” He foresaw a future where Lebanon would be liberated from a “kingdom of terror.” The warrior’s prediction was premature then. It could prove prescient as Mr. Netanyahu flies into a Shabbat sunset. Godspeed.

Benjamin Netanyahu Stuns the World

Benjamin Netanyahu Stuns the World

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