(JNS) The amazing success Israel has had in the seven-front war that was launched against it on Oct. 7, 2023 was mainly due to the ingenuity of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel Defense Forces, the Mossad and, eventually, a successful partnership with US President Donald Trump.
As we celebrate the return of the remaining living hostages who were taken alive on Oct. 7 and await the return of the remaining deceased hostages, it is the right time to consider all that has been accomplished.
After the massacre on Oct. 7, Netanyahu quickly decided on a joint goal of bringing home the hostages and ending the threat from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, which was the main funder and military supplier of its terror proxies, as well as the Houthis, who started firing rockets from Yemen. Netanyahu’s first critical decision was to evacuate residents from the north of Israel, rather than invade Lebanon in response to Hezbollah’s massive missile attacks on Oct. 8, as he did not want ground troops fighting in two places at once and needed to focus on Gaza.
Netanyahu also had to deal with the Biden administration, which said it would support Israel in its fight against Hamas in Gaza, though not Hezbollah in Lebanon. With the Biden administration’s help, after Israel sent ground troops into Gaza, Hamas released 105 living hostages—from Nov. 24 to Dec. 1, 2023, this included 81 Israelis hostages, 23 Thai and one Filipino national. Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners without blood on their hands, mostly minors. Israel did not withdraw from any areas in Gaza during the truce. Once Hamas stopped releasing the required 10 hostages a day, the war resumed.
As the war progressed, Netanyahu saw the need to stop the flow of arms to Hamas via tunnels from the Egyptian border to Rafah. Then-President Joe Biden opposed Israeli action there; US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel that American weapons would be extremely restricted if its forces entered Rafah. Netanyahu proceeded anyway, destroying the Hamas smuggling network. It was in Rafah that Israel found and killed senior Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks.
Hamas increased its demands for the hostages as it saw that the Biden administration was no longer fully backing Israel militarily. Further, then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer went on the Senate floor on March 14, 2024, likely with the support of the Biden administration, and called for Netanyahu to be replaced. That was echoed by journalists Bret Stephens of The New York Times and David Horovitz of The Times of Israel. Netanyahu resisted the call for new elections, but the result was that Hamas’s negotiating position was strengthened.
The next big moment was the Sept. 17-18 beeper and pager operation, when Israel detonated communication devices used by Hezbollah leaders to communicate with its operatives, resulting in thousands of injuries. Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sept. 27.
On Oct. 1, Israel launched a ground offensive into Lebanon reaching the Litani River, which led to a ceasefire going into effect on Nov. 27. The ceasefire meant the end of Hezbollah missiles being fired on Israel and the ability of Israelis to return to their homes in the north after being evacuated for more than a year. Even though Hezbollah has attempted to violate the ceasefire, Israel has enforced it through repeated attacks; now, the Lebanese Armed Forces have a chance to take Lebanon back.
The next hostage deal closed in January of this year, resulting in the release of 33 living hostages, including the remaining living female hostages, over a period of several weeks. In exchange, Israel released mass murderers, as well as some 2,000 other Hamas prisoners. Israel also withdrew from significant amounts of the territory it had taken from Hamas in Gaza as part of this deal.
When the Trump administration came into office on Jan. 20, Netanyahu seized the opportunity to end the Iranian nuclear threat hovering over Israel. Iran had already launched an unprovoked missile attack against Israel in April 2024, with more than 100 ballistic missiles fired at Israel, which was pressured by the Biden administration to response meekly. Emboldened, Iran attacked Israel again on Oct. 1, with as many as 200 ballistic missiles; in response, Israel knocked out much of Iran’s missile defense systems and an undeclared nuclear site.
After Iran failed to meet a 60-day deadline set by Trump to agree to end its nuclear program, Israel launched a surprise military strike on Iran on June 13, killing many military leaders and nuclear scientists, as well as hitting nuclear installations. The war ended 12 days later, after Trump ordered an attack on three Iranian nuclear sites. It was the first time in history that Israel was militarily assisted by American forces.
While most of the world falsely claimed Israel was committing genocide, Trump rightly responded that the genocide was committed by Hamas on Oct. 7. He understood that the only way to retrieve the remaining hostages was if the terror group knew it had only one choice: Free the hostages or face being militarily wiped out. The president sent his son-in-law and former senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to tell Hamas that holding the hostages was hurting the group, and as long as the hostages remained captive, Israel would continue its military fight and the Trump administration would back them. He had already shown his support for Israel by supplying the country with all the weapons the Biden administration had previously withheld and by providing other weapons as well.
Israel is now in a stronger place militarily than at any time in its history, and that is due to the actions led by Netanyahu and supported by the Trump administration. Israel has shown itself to be a military force to be reckoned with, and under Trump’s leadership, the United States has proven it is not afraid to use the strongest military in the world.
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