Biden warns Bibi not to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, but key US, Israeli leaders say it’s time

WASHINGTON, DC — Is it possible that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet will order the IDF to launch a massive attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities, oil refineries, and even a decapitation strike against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Iranian regime on or around the one year anniversary of the October 7th invasion by Hamas and slaughter of 1,200 Israeli Jews?

Yes.

That’s what I’m watching for and I believe it is increasingly likely.

"Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it," Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

"The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies,” the prime minister added.

“They will understand. We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us, we will attack him.”

As Rosh Hashana – the Jewish New Year – began, the Prime Minister’s Office released a picture showing Netanyahu meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, Mossad Chief David Barnea, and Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar, discussing how best to respond to Iran.

Major-General Ronen Gofman, Netanyahu’s military aide, and Tzachi Braverman, his chief of staff, were also present. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also issued a statement, saying, “The ayatollahs’ regime has crossed the red line – and the State of Israel will not be silent in the face of Iran’s criminal attack on our citizens.”

BIDEN PUSHING BIBI HARD TO LIMIT ISRAEL’S RESPONSE

Yet, rather than stand by America’s most important ally in the Middle East, President Joe Biden is now publicly warning Netanyahu not to use the Iranian attack on the Jewish state this week – with nearly 200 ballistic missiles – as a pretext to order large-scale attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us agree that they have a right to respond but they should respond proportionally,” Biden said Wednesday, referring to his conversations with other G7 leaders. 

“Obviously, Iran is way off course,” Biden said, but he insisted that should not be an excuse for Israel to “escalate” the situation.

Asked directly by a reporter whether the Biden-Harris administration would support an Israeli military attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, the president gave a simple and clear answer.

“The answer is no.”

“No one’s saying don’t respond,” one senior administration official told CNN, but the White House wants Israel’s response to be small and limited, just as Biden forced Netanyahu to do in April when Tehran fired 321 missiles and suicide drones at Israel from Iranian territory for the first time in history. 

Nevertheless, Netanyahu might order such an attack anyway.

STRIKE HARD, STRIKE FAST, STRIKE NOW

Yesterday, I wrote our lead column on ALL ISRAEL NEWS with this headline, “OCTOBER SURPRISE: It’s time for Israel to decapitate Iranian regime, destroy its oil refineries, nuclear facilities.”

In the column, argued that “Enough is enough. Since the Iranian revolution began on February 1, 1979 – and then took Americans hostage in the U.S. embassy that November; and then blew up the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut in 1983; and then killed American servicemen in Iraq; and then murdered hundreds and hundreds of Israelis directly and through its terror proxies over the decades – the Iranian regime has never paid a serious price.”

“Now is the time to strike,” I wrote. 

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, you have been warning for decades of the dangers of a Second Holocaust if the Iranian regime can build an arsenal of nuclear bombs. Now is the moment to safeguard the Jewish state and Jewish people for the next one hundred years. To do what Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Neville Chamberlain should have done as Adolf Hitler was rising to power but utterly failed to do and paid a bitter price for their inaction and lack of courage. Strike hard, strike fast, strike now.”

KEY US AND ISRAEL LEADERS URGING NETANYAHU TO LAUNCH A MASSIVE ATTACK ON IRAN

Turns out, I am not alone.

A growing number of key U.S. and Israeli voices are also urging Netanyahu and his government to use this moment to deliver a knockout blow to the Iranian regime.

“This is a moment of choosing for the free world regarding Iran,” says U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina.

“The Ayatollah and Iranian regime are religious Nazis who want to destroy the state of Israel – their words, not mine. They want to purify Islam and attack the United States – again, their words, not mine.”

“This missile attack against Israel should be the breaking point and I would urge the Biden Administration to coordinate an overwhelming response with Israel, starting with Iran’s ability to refine oil,” Graham added. “These oil refineries need to be hit and hit hard because that is the source of cash for the regime to perpetrate their terror. My prayers are with the people of Israel, and may God continue to bless Israel.”

John Bolton, who served as the U.S. national security advisor during the Trump administration, urged Israel to go even further.

“The next time Iran attacks Israel, under the nose cone of an incoming ballistic missile might be a nuclear weapon,” he wrote on 𝕏 on Wednesday. “That risk is unacceptable. Israel should destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program, among other things.”

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett agrees.

Speaking with CNN on Wednesday, Bennett said, “Sometimes, history knocks on your door and you’ve got to seize the moment. If we don’t do it now, I don’t see it ever happening. We must take out Iran’s nuclear program now.”

A prominent Democrat this week also said he fully expects Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

William Cohen, who served as former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s defense secretary in the 1990s, told CNN on Wednesday that he doesn’t believe that Biden’s desire for a ceasefire is “realistic.”

“I think the Israelis believe they have got the upper hand now, that Iran and its proxies are on their heels, and now is really the time to take it to the source of their problems, and that’s Iran,” Cohen told CNN anchor Jake Tapper.

“So, I would expect that they would level a very serious attack in Iran against a number of facilities, possibly their oil industry but conceivably their nuclear facilities. This has been a prime objective of the Israelis for some time to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon. Iran seems to be getting closer to that possibility.”

EVANGELICALS, PLEASE PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

Let me be clear: I don’t want war.

As an Israeli and as an Evangelical, this long and bitter and tragic war – and all this death and pain and suffering – grieves me deeply.

But the Bible is clear.

There is “a time for war and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:8)

This is a time for war.

I wish it wasn’t, but it is.

Remember, Israel didn’t start this war. 

Iran did.

The regime in Tehran has vowed to annihilate us.

They and their terror proxies have already been attacking us non-stop for a year.
Enough is enough.

The only way to end this war is to end the Iranian regime and its ability to annihilate us.

So, I ask Evangelicals all over the world to pray without ceasing that God will grant the Israeli government wisdom and courage.

That Israel will achieve total victory over all of our enemies.

That justice will be done.

That we will get all of our hostages back.

That God will supernaturally heal every Israeli, Palestinian, and Lebanese citizen who has been traumatized by this war.

That a Great Spiritual Awakening will break out throughout the entire Epicenter.

That Israel will be able to make peace treaties with the Saudis and many others. 

And that then lasting calm and quiet and security will become a reality for beyond in the region.

Dark days lie before us.

But I have great hope for the future and I pray you do, too.