President Biden, in a sharp rhetorical reversal following days of criticizing Israel’s Gaza war strategy, is vowing to support America’s closest Mideast ally as Washington and Jerusalem assess the prospects of an Iranian attack and a region-wide war. 

“As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” Mr. Biden said Wednesday. “Let me say it again, ironclad. We’re gonna do all we can to protect Israel’s security.”

The commander of the U.S. Central Command, General Michael Kurilla, arrived in Israel Thursday to coordinate strategy as the Islamic Republic swears to avenge a recent missile attack at Damascus that killed top Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders. 

General Kurilla often visits Israel, but now his Thursday meetings with the Israel Defense Force chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, and his Friday talks with the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, are being widely covered by the press. His visit appears to signal that America and Israel are united, and to warn Tehran against escalation. 

Arabic-language networks are reporting that Secretary Blinken has called colleagues in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other regional allies, urging them to warn Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, against risking an all-out regional war. Earlier, Washington sent messages to Tehran that America had nothing to do with the April 1 missile attack at Damascus.

Israel is making clear that if attacked, its response would be harsh. “We set a simple principle: Anyone who hits us, we hit them,” Mr. Netanyahu said while visiting an IDF air base Thursday. “We are ready to fulfill our responsibilities to Israel’s security, in defense and attack. I, and the whole of Israel, trust you,” he told F-15 fighter pilots.

Israelis have been on edge for days as Tehran vows to retaliate for the missile hit on a house adjacent to the Iranian embassy at Damascus. Several terrorists were killed in the attack, including an IRGC Quds Force top general, Mohammad Reza Zahedi. Yet, could an Iranian attack actually be an opportunity for Israel? 

“Perhaps it would be good if Iran hit us with a missile or two,” a contributor to Israel’s Channel 12 News, Aviv Bushinsky, said Thursday. Citing a Bloomberg report that  within two weeks the Islamic Republic could have enough highly enriched uranium for three nuclear bombs, he added, “Israel could then finally hit Iran’s nuclear facilities, to little world condemnation.” 

For now, there are no special instructions for the Israeli public to alter behavior in defense against Iranian threats, the IDF spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Thursday. For more than 48 hours citizens have been alarmed by reports of an imminent Iranian attack. 

On Wednesday, Iran’s Mehr news reported that the country’s airspace was closing due to ongoing military activities. The agency then quickly deleted the report, apparently after an admonition from above. Yet, the mullahs are continuously threatening revenge for Zahedi’s killing. 

The Israeli attack on the embassy “is as if they have attacked our soil,” Supreme Leader Khamenei said Wednesday in a sermon marking the end of Ramadan, Eid el Fitr. “The malicious regime made a mistake on this matter, and it must be punished and will be punished.”     

Mr. Biden’s statement at the White House, alongside Prime Minister Kishida of Japan, came after several news agencies reported that Washington’s intelligence agencies have assessed that an Iranian attack could be imminent.

The president’s new stance on Israel echoes his now-famous warning: “Don’t.” That message to Iran’s proxies against widening the war was made shortly after the Gaza war was launched on October 7.

Yet, Hezbollah and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria have not stopped barraging Israel with rockets, missiles, and drones, as do the Yemeni Houthis, who have for months blocked nearly all global shipping through the Red Sea. 

Following almost daily tiffs with Mr. Netanyahu, even as America continues to arm Israel, the White House may now realize that any public “daylight” between Washington and Jerusalem is encouraging Iran and its proxies to escalate the war even further.

Escalation avoidance has long guided Mr. Biden’s foreign policy. He has armed Ukraine, but warned Kyiv against attacks on Russian soil. He also held back from launching a muscular response to the Houthi assault on global freedom of navigation.

Yet, a regional perception that the American-Israeli alliance is weakening might encourage enemies to escalate further. If Tehran no longer fears global consequences, it could, for the first time, attack Israel directly, rather than through proxies. Concerned about an all-out Mideast war, Mr. Biden once again is siding with Israel.    

“Good for President Biden for saying his commitment to Israel’s security is ‘ironclad’ and for sending Centcom commander General Kurilla to Israel,” a frequent critic, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’s CEO, Mark Dubowitz, wrote on X. “Refreshing change from the past few months of undermining Israeli security.”