A Race Against the Bomb: The Lion Rises
When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Israel’s military campaign against Iran Operation Am Kalavi or “Rising Lion,” he drew from the book of Numbers, where the lion symbolizes a fierce nation, enlivened by fury, refusing to lie down until it has vanquished its prey. “‘Behold, a people rise like a lioness, and as a lion it lifts itself; it will not lie down until it devours the prey…” (Num. 23:24 NASB 1995).
Invoking biblical imagery to frame the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities as divinely imperative, rather than an act of unprovoked aggression, he declared that Israel’s preemptive strike was born from unqualified necessity—not choice. This was not an act of hegemonic war but one of survival, driven by Iran’s relentless nuclear ambitions, explicit threats to annihilate Israel and a rapidly closing window to act.
Iran’s Nuclear Threat: A Ticking Clock
By mid-2025, Iran’s nuclear program had become an imminent danger. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) June 2025 report revealed Iran was enriching uranium to 90%—weapons-grade levels—at Natanz and Fordow while obstructing inspectors. Israeli intelligence estimated Iran could produce a nuclear weapon within weeks, perhaps days. An intelligence breakthrough reported information that Iran’s elite “weapons group,” formed after October 7, 2023, was perilously close to weaponizing its nuclear program. With enough enriched uranium for roughly 15 bombs, Iran was planning to assemble a working nuclear weapon. And for the tiny nation of Israel, a nuclear-armed Iran was unthinkable.
Tehran’s Genocidal Intent: Words and Actions
Iran’s leaders have never hidden their intentions toward Israel. In 2015, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Israel a “cancerous tumor” that must be “uprooted and destroyed.” In October 2024, he said, “The Zionist nation will not last long.” His predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, declared, “Israel must be wiped off the map.”
Rather than empty threats, these words were operationalized. Iran armed Hezbollah with 150,000 rockets; backed and funded Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre that killed 1,200 Israelis; and supported Houthi attacks.
Moreover, since the start of the war, the IDF Intelligence Directorate has collected and analyzed vast quantities of intelligence materials that uncover a concrete plan hatched in Iran to annihilate Israel, sinisterly called “The Destruction of Israel Plan.” The strategy involved obtaining nuclear weapons, thousands of missiles and a multi-front ground offensive from its proxy terror militias.
This rhetoric and aggression have been in plain sight for decades and leave zero room for doubt over Tehran’s unrelenting commitment to Israel’s destruction.
The Failure of Diplomacy: A Broken System
Diplomacy has failed to restrain Iran. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action collapsed after Iran hid enrichment sites and missile programs. Then, post-2018, when the US withdrew, Iran amassed enough near-weapons-grade uranium by 2025 to build several bombs.
Talks in Oman in June 2025 imploded when Israel uncovered Iran’s plan to use the negotiations as a stalling tactic while finalizing its doomsday arsenal. The IAEA’s report confirmed Iran’s violations, leaving Israel without any faith in diplomatic efforts. An Israeli official noted, “Diplomacy was a trap to buy Iran time.” The bottom line? Israel acted to prevent a nuclear fait accompli.
Domestic Pressures: A Nation on Edge
The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack shattered Israel’s sense of security. Public trust in the military and the government trembled, and fears of a nuclear Iran—seen as a second Holocaust—grew. Polls showed 70% of Israelis supported preemptive strikes.
Netanyahu saw Operation Rising Lion as a unifying act. “This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” he vowed, channeling public demand for action against a truly existential foe.
The International Context: A Rare Alignment
Global dynamics shaped Israel’s timing. US President Donald Trump issued a 60-day ultimatum to Iran for a new nuclear deal. On day 61, after Iran refused to make conciliations and agree to halt its uranium enrichment program, Israel acted.
Trump endorsed Israel’s strikes, calling them “excellent,” and warned Tehran against retaliation. Western intelligence aided Israel’s targeting. Europe, frustrated by Iran’s violations and genuinely alarmed at the thought of an Iranian regime armed with nuclear weapons, offered muted criticism, giving Israel diplomatic cover.
Israel seized this fleeting alignment of Western powers with its own imperative objectives, knowing global consensus never lasts.
A Narrowing Window
The Mossad (Israeli intelligence agency) pinpointed June 2025 as the last viable moment to strike. Iran’s Natanz facilities were still vulnerable to Israel’s munitions, but fortification efforts were advancing. Moreover, any delay risked Iran achieving a nuclear weapon, after which an Israeli attack could trigger catastrophe.
The strikes, involving F-35 jets and drones, destroyed key infrastructure. Israel’s military analysts are optimistic that the operations will, at the very least, delay Iran’s program by years. The stakes were high, but inaction meant a nightmare scenario where a nuclear Iran would embolden proxies and hold Israel hostage—and risk its annihilation.
Hope for a Region Transformed
On June 22, the United States joined Israel’s military campaign, deploying B‑2 stealth bombers, submarines and bunker-busting munitions to target Iran’s key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Fordow—buried nearly half a mile beneath a mountain—was reported to have sustained “major damage.”
Two days later, on June 24, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire. In under two weeks, Israel’s Operation Rising Lion and America’s Operation Midnight Hammer had effectively crippled Iran’s nuclear program and delivered a devastating blow to its military infrastructure.
Israel called the ayatollah’s bluff—and emerged victorious. But this victory extends beyond Jerusalem and Washington. A weakened Iran means a reprieve for the Middle East—and for the world—from the threat once posed by the globe’s foremost state sponsor of terror.
The Bottom Line
Operation Rising Lion sprang from necessity, not aggression. Iran’s nuclear advances, genocidal threats and proxy wars have left Israel with no alternative. Israel is a nation fighting for survival against a regime bent on its destruction.
The military operation has bought time, but at a cost. Twenty-four Israeli lives have been lost. A tremendous psychological toll lays heavily upon an already war-weary populace, and the specter of a broader and protracted war still looms. In a region that has been historically defined by sectarianism and wars, Israel’s survival demands life-and-death choices, and peace seems to offer itself only through the most arduous exercise of strength.
May every military and diplomatic action be underpinned by earnest prayer and an unfaltering faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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