President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone this morning for 30 minutes to discuss regional issues with a focus on Israel’s impending response to Iran’s unprecedented ballistic missile attack last week. Vice President Kamala Harris was also on the call.
Biden "affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security," "condemned unequivocally Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel," and "affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah," according to a White House readout of the call.
Later in the day, Biden said that he "fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran and its proxies."
Separately today, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited IDF Intelligence Unit 9900, where he said that Israel’s response would be "lethal, precise and especially surprising."
Iran "won’t understand what happened to it, or how," Gallant added. "The entire [Israeli] chain of command is in line and focused around this issue."
Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel today, killing an Israeli couple — Revital Yehud, 45, and Dvir Sharvit, 43 (pictured below) — walking their dogs in Kiryat Shmona.
Several people were injured, including a 16-year-old boy, when Hezbollah launched a separate barrage of more than 40 rockets at Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city. At least one rocket impacted the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Bialik, causing power outages and damaging a local cemetery.
Israeli troops continue to operate on the ground in Lebanon, destroying Hezbollah's infrastructure and engaging in close combat with Hezbollah terrorists. Yesterday, Israeli paratroopers found hundreds of weapons and a 7-meter-deep bunker hidden in a Lebanese village.
While visiting troops in southern Lebanon today, the head of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, reiterated the importance of Israel’s operations.
"The way back home for the residents of the north passes through… the removal of this direct and concrete threat to the communities of the north. As I’ve said, we are determined to bring them back, and you are doing it with your tank treads and your legs," Gordin told the soldiers.
Bret Stephens: "What an Israeli Win Would Mean"
New York Times columnist Bret Stephens argues that an Israeli victory over Iran and its terror proxies is good not only for Israel but also for the entire region and the world.
"The world had better hope that Israel wins its wars against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and their masters in Tehran," he writes. "Those who hope for an independent, free and peaceful Palestinian state had better hope Israel wins."
"The war Israelis are fighting now — the one the news media often mislabels the 'Gaza war' but is really between Israel and Iran — is fundamentally America’s war, too: a war against a shared enemy; an enemy that makes common cause with our totalitarian adversaries in Moscow and Beijing; an enemy that has been attacking us for 45 years. Americans should consider ourselves fortunate that Israel is bearing the brunt of the fighting; the least we can do is root for it."
Terrorist wounds 6 Israelis in stabbing attack
Six people were injured in a stabbing attack this morning in Hadera, just north of Netanya.
This is the third major terror attack in Israel in the past eight days, following deadly attacks in Jaffa last Tuesday and Beersheba on Sunday.
Also today, in an operation in Nablus, Israeli special forces killed four armed terrorists who were preparing to carry out an attack against Israelis.
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