Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of ensnaring the United States in a wider Middle East war is already partly realized. Earlier this month, U.S. forces were directly engaged for the second time this year in shooting down missiles that Iran had fired in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Iranian interests.
The United States also has been attacking targets in Yemen, even with long-range B-2 heavy bombers. The combat with Yemen, like the exchanges of fire with Iran, is a direct outgrowth of Israel’s policies of subjugation of Palestinians and carnage in the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ October 7 attack.
One of the most recent expansions of U.S. involvement in Israel’s wars has been the deployment to Israel of the THAAD missile defense system, along with about 100 U.S. military personnel to operate it. Such deployments not only put Americans increasingly in harm’s way but also embolden Netanyahu to escalate his wars further by reducing the impact of the inevitable retaliation from those whom Israel attacks.
With no end in sight to the Israeli escalation, and with that escalation focusing in recent weeks on an Israeli assault in Lebanon that has begun to duplicate some of the suffering in Gaza, Americans should reflect on how the United States got ensnared in an earlier Israeli war there, and a tragic result of that involvement that occurred 41 years ago this week.