
Israel's Preventive War
Tonight, the Israelis launched a broad sweeping attack on Iran that seems like an attempt to settle, so to speak, all family business. The Israeli government has characterized this offensive as a 'preemptive' strike on Iran: 'We are now in a strategic window of opportunity and close to a point of no return, and we had no choice but to take action,' an Israeli military official told reporters. Israeli spokespeople suggest that these attacks, named Operation Rising Lion, could go on for weeks.
But calling this a 'preemptive' strike is questionable. The Israelis, from what we know so far, are engaged in a preventive war: They are removing the source of a threat by surprise, on their own timetable and on terms they find favorable. They may be justified in doing so, but such actions carry great moral and practical risks.
Preemptive attacks, in both international law and the historical traditions of war, are spoiling attacks, meant to thwart an imminent attack. In both tradition and law, this form of self-defense is perfectly defensible, similar to the principle in domestic law that when a person cocks a fist or pulls a gun, the intended victim does need to stand there and wait to get punched or shot.
Preventive attacks, however, have long been viewed in the international community as both illegal and immoral. History is full of ill-advised preventive actions, including the Spartan invasion of Athens in the 5th century B.C., the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the American war on Iraq in 2002. Sometimes, such wars are the product of hubris, miscalculation, or plain fear, but they all share the common trait that a choice was made to go to war based on a threat that was real, but not imminent.
The Israelis, ironically, are in the case books as the clearest example of a legitimate preemptive attack. In 1967, Israel got the jump on an Arab coalition that had been so obvious in its march to war that it was literally broadcasting its intention to destroy Israel while its troops massed for an offensive. Indeed, international law experts have noted that the 1967 is so clear that it is not much use as a precedent, because most enemies are not blockheaded enough to assemble an army and declare their intention to invade. (Of course, the Israelis could argue that they are already at war with Iran, a country that has launched many missiles at them and directed years of proxy attacks on their people and their military, which would be a far stronger case.)
Most threats, instead, are a judgment call based on timing. What constitutes an imminent threat? The Israelis seem to have made the same judgment with respect to Iran that America made in Iraq: A regime that has expressed genocidal intent is trying to gain nuclear weapons; possession of nuclear weapons will mean, with absolute certainty, use of nuclear weapons; and therefore, waiting until the threat gels and becomes obvious is too dangerous.
Such a calculation is not irrational, especially in the nuclear age, when armies no longer need to mobilize for nations to inflict ghastly damage on each other. To show infinite patience until a threat—especially a nuclear threat—becomes so obvious that the window for action shrinks to hours or minutes requires the coldest of cold blood. Few world leaders are willing to take such risks. 'We no longer live in a world,' President John F. Kennedy said presciently during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, 'where only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient challenge to a nation's security to constitute maximum peril.'
But if the Israelis are setting the terms of the debate by claiming that they are embarking on a preemptive war—and not merely a preventative one—then they will have to make the case to the international community that the threat from the Iranian nuclear program required action now, without any further delay. Jerusalem may well be able to make this argument; if the Iranians were, as the Israelis claim, just a few weeks from assembling a small nuclear arsenal, and the ability to strike that capacity was receding from Israeli reach, then the argument for preemption is strong—especially because Iranian leaders have so often expressed their wish to wipe Israel from the map.
But that rationale is complicated now by the sweep and breadth of the Israeli offensive. Several senior Iranian leaders, including from the Iranian General Staff, are reportedly dead, which suggests that Israel's goal might be decapitation of the Iranian regime, perhaps with the aim of regime change. If that is the case, then the Israelis should not box themselves in—as the Americans unwisely did in 2002—with shaky rationales about preemption. They should simply admit that they have reached a decision to end, once and for all, the existential threat to Israel from Iran.
Iran's history and its unrelenting enmity to Israel could justify such a war. A decade ago, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that the 'barbaric, wolflike' and 'infanticidal' Israeli regime has 'no cure but to be annihilated.' The Iranians cannot now complain if the Israelis are taking them seriously; the United States has launched military actions over far weaker threats to American security. But such decisions are laden with immense danger, especially because—as the great student of armed conflict, Carl von Clausewitz, warned long ago—there is no such thing as utter finality in war. The Israeli campaign may be necessary, but so far, it seems less like a preemptive action and more like something that another philosopher of war, Michael Corleone, would easily have recognized.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Cambodia to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize for role in ending country's conflict with Thailand
Cambodia will nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he helped the country reach a cease-fire agreement to end its border conflict with Thailand. Sun Chanthol, Cambodia's deputy prime minister, thanked Trump for bringing peace to the region while speaking to reporters earlier Friday in the country's capital of Phnom Penh. Advertisement Chanthol said the American president deserved to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the highest-profile international award given to a person or organization for doing the most to 'advance fellowship between nations.' 'We acknowledge his great efforts for peace,' Chanthol said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and Pakistani officials said in June they would recommend him for the award for his role in helping to end its conflict with India. Trump urged a cease-fire last week when he spoke to the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand and threatened that the US would not get back to the 'trading table' with the Southeast Asian countries until the fighting stops. Advertisement 5 Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet shakes hands with Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai during a press conference in Putrajaya on July 28, 2025. via REUTERS 5 President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House on Aug. 1, 2025. / MEGA A cease-fire was negotiated in Malaysia on Monday, ending the heaviest conflict between the two countries in over a decade. 'Numerous people were killed and I was dealing with two countries that we get along with very well, very different countries from certain standpoints. They've been fighting for 500 years intermittently. And, we solved that war … we solved it through trade,' Trump told reporters during his recent trip to Scotland. Advertisement Following news of the cease-fire, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that Trump's direct involvement led to the truce. 'President Trump made this happen. Give him the Nobel Peace Prize!,' she said. 5 A fire erupts at a Cambodian military arms depot after a reported Thai drone strike in Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia on July 25, 2025. via REUTERS 5 The remains of a home destroyed by a fire after being struck by Cambodian artillery in the Surin Province, Thai on July 27, 2025. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement The fighting began last week after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers. Each side blamed the other for starting the clashes, which lasted five days. At least 43 people were killed and more than 300,000 people were displaced on both sides of the border. 'I said, 'I don't want to trade with anybody that's killing each other,'' Trump continued while in Scotland. 'So we just got that one solved. And I'm going to call the two prime ministers who I got along with very, very well and speak to them right after this meeting and congratulate them. But it was an honor to be involved in that. That was going to be a very nasty war. Those wars have been very, very nasty.' 5 Thailand's mobile artillery unit fires rounds across to Cambodia's side of the border on July 25, 2025. REUTERS Chanthol, who also serves as Cambodia's top trade negotiator, said his country was also grateful to Trump for a reduced tariff rate of 19%. The Trump administration had initially threatened a tariff of 49% before later reducing it to 36%, a level that would have decimated Cambodia's vital garment and footwear sector, Chanthol told Reuters. Reuters contributed to this report.


CNN
6 hours ago
- CNN
U.S. Envoy Visits Gaza As Hunger Crisis Deepens - The Source with Kaitlan Collins - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
U.S. Envoy Visits Gaza As Hunger Crisis Deepens The Source with Kaitlan Collins 46 mins President Trump says he has been briefed by his special envoy Steve Witkoff about what he saw as he spent several hours inside of Gaza today. He was given a highly choreographed tour of an aid site operated by a U.S. backed organization. They visited one of three controversial aid sites where the United Nations has alleged the Israeli military has killed hundreds of Palestinians trying to get food.


Boston Globe
9 hours ago
- Boston Globe
US envoy visits aid site in Gaza run by Israeli-backed group that has been heavily criticized
Advertisement Hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli fire while heading to such aid sites since May, according to witnesses, health officials and the United Nations human rights office. Israel and GHF say they have only fired warning shots and that the toll has been exaggerated. In a report issued on Friday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said GHF was at the heart of a 'flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.' This handout photo from US Embassy Jerusalem shows White House special envoy Steve Witkoff (center) and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (center let) visiting a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. David Azaguri/Associated Press Witkoff says he's working on a new Gaza aid plan Witkoff posted on X that he had spent over five hours inside Gaza in order to gain 'a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza.' He did not request any meetings with U.N. officials in Gaza during his visit, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters. U.N. agencies have provided aid throughout Gaza since the start of the war, when conditions allow. Advertisement Chapin Fay, a spokesperson for GHF, said the visit reflected Trump's understanding of the stakes and that 'feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority.' The aid group says it has delivered over 100 million meals since it began operations in May. All four of the group's sites established in May are in zones controlled by the Israeli military and have become flashpoints of desperation, with starving people scrambling for scarce aid. More than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli fire since May while seeking aid in the territory, most near the GHF sites but also near United Nations aid convoys, the U.N. human rights office said last month. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots at people who approach its forces, and GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Palestinians carried sacks of flour taken from a humanitarian aid convoy en route to Gaza City, in the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, on Friday. Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press Dozens killed near aid sites Officials at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza said Friday they received the bodies of 13 people who were killed while trying to get aid, including near the site that U.S. officials visited. GHF denied anyone was killed at their sites on Friday. The Israeli military said its forces had fired warning shots hundreds of meters (yards) away from the aid site at people it described as suspects and said had ignored orders to distance themselves from its forces. It said it was not aware of any casualties but was still investigating. Another 23 people were killed and dozens wounded near the Israeli-run Zikim Crossing, the main entry point for aid to northern Gaza, according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. He said the vast majority of injuries were from gunfire. Advertisement The Israeli military said it struck several armed militants in northern Gaza but that the strike 'was not conducted near the passage of the humanitarian aid trucks and no damage was caused to them.' The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said 11 people were killed at another aid distribution point in Gaza City. There was no immediate comment from the military on those deaths. Humanitarian aid was airdropped to Palestinians over Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated Press HRW slams Israeli-backed aid system Human Rights Watch said in its report that 'it would be near impossible for Palestinians to follow the instructions issued by GHF, stay safe, and receive aid, particularly in the context of ongoing military operations.' It cited doctors, aid seekers and at least one GHF security contractor. Building on previous accounts, it described how how thousands of Palestinians gather near the sites at night before they open. As they head to the sites on foot, Israeli forces control their movements by opening fire toward them. Once inside the sites, they race for aid in a frenzied fee-for-all, with weaker and more vulnerable people coming away with nothing, HRW said. Responding to the report, Israel's military accused Hamas of sabotaging the aid distribution system, without providing evidence. It said it was working to make the routes under its control safer for those traveling to aid sites. GHF did not immediately respond to questions about the report. The group has never allowed journalists to visit their sites and Israel's military has barred reporters from independently entering Gaza throughout the war. Israeli occupation forces demolished the home of Ibrahim Ziada, in the village of Wadi Rahhal, south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. MOSAB SHAWER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images Top German diplomat condemns settler violence in the West Bank Germany's foreign minister visited Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian Christian village that has seen recent attacks by Israeli settlers. Johann Wadephul said Israel's settlements are an obstacle to peace and condemned settler violence. He also called on Hamas to lay down its arms in Gaza and release the remaining hostages. Advertisement Germany has so far declined to join other major Western countries in announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state. Palestinians in another nearby town laid to rest 45-year-old Khamis Ayad, who they say suffocated while extinguishing fires set by settlers during an attack the night before. Witnesses said Israeli forces fired live rounds and tear gas toward residents after the settlers attacked. Israel's military said police were investigating the incident. They said security forces found Hebrew graffiti and a burnt vehicle at the scene but had not detained any suspects. There has been a rise in settler attacks, as well as Palestinian militant attacks on Israelis and large-scale Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel out of Gaza that triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, that day and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50 hostages, including around 20 believed to be alive. Most of the others have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Metz reported from Jerusalem and Frankel from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. Advertisement