Israel Braces for Iran Attack

Stand for Israel | August 6, 2024

Smoke rises from a fire which broke out from missiles fired from Lebanon, near the Israeli border with Lebanon, northern Israel, July 30, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90 — Smoke rises from a fire which broke out from missiles fired from Lebanon, near the Israeli border with Lebanon, northern Israel, July 30, 2024.(Photo: Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Writing at JNS, Etgar Lefkovits explains the fears and uncertainty of Israelis as they wait on the verge of war for a direct attack from Iran:

There were near-hourly threats from Iranian officials of an impending attack…

Then came the word from the U.S.’s top diplomat on Sunday evening that an Iranian attack on Israel was imminent, expected within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Israel has been on pins and needles for the fifth straight day on Monday amid the deep uncertainty and the wait, perhaps intentionally planned to wear it down by the powerful existential foe the Islamic Republic. This is not just one or more of Iran’s proxies, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which Israel is more accustomed to battling.

Even after the killing of Hezbollah’s top “military” commander in Lebanon in the wake of the massacre of 12 Druze children on their Golan Heights soccer field by a rocket fired by the Lebanese terror group, followed by the assassination of the Hamas leader in Iran last week, there was neither celebration nor joy in Israel, despite the national feeling of justice done.

A sense of realism has sunk in after nearly 10 months of war against Hamas in Gaza following the Oct. 7 massacre…