"The second [Iran] discovered that there was some division, that the alliance between the U.S. and Israel was not as strong – some of that because of sayings that came from the State Department – they mistakenly thought it was time to attack Israel," Simcha Rothman, a member of the Israeli Knesset, said on Washington Watch Thursday.
"They discovered that Israel is not alone," he added.
The U.S., Jordan and Britian helped Israel intercept approximately 99% of more than 300 drones and missiles that Tehran launched at the Jewish state on April 14.
The timing was in part because Iran sensed division between the U.S. and Israel, Rothman told show host Tony Perkins. The ongoing pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the country are an effort to create more division, he said.
The New York Post reported last week that leftist billionaire investor George Soros is paying radicalized students who are at the center of protests at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Cal-Berkeley, Ohio State and Emory in Atlanta. All of these protests are organized by branches of the Soros-funded Students for Justice in Palestine, The Post reported.
"It's a mistake to try and sell the narrative that the U.S. is being attacked because of its support for Israel. I think it's the other way around: Israel is being attacked by some people because of its connection to the U.S.," Rothman argued.
But that connection is inevitable, he continued. "We cannot have a real choice not to be connected because we share the same values. That's why sometimes our enemies define us better than we do ourselves," he said.
Cleaning up a bad neighborhood
Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained the terrorist group must be destroyed. Rothman agrees – but says Hamas is just the tip of the iceberg.
"We need to understand the [lone] threat is not Hamas. Hamas is a threat, and needs to be eliminated," he acknowledged, "but we have the enemies surrounding us, some of them living among us in Judea and Samaria. When they felt that Israel was weak, they attacked."
And that, says Rothman, is why Israel must continue its offensive regardless of what other nations say.
"When you live in a very bad neighborhood [there's a temptation] to forget the bad neighbor, to step away from the evil. No one wants to confront the evil day after day," he described.
"But we cannot allow the evil to be left alone," the Knesset member continued. "We ran away from Gaza in 2005. We ran back to the old borders. We closed the door and said, 'Now it will be okay.'"
Instead, though, it immediately gave "power to the evil," he concluded. "Hamas took over, and the rest is history … terrible history."
Israel has no choice but to cut off the head of the snake
A messianic Jewish leader says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no choice but to achieve total victory over Hamas.
Despite being continually pressured by the Biden administration to show restraint, the embattled Israeli leader has vowed total victory over Hamas "with or without" a ceasefire agreement. Israel and Hamas are negotiating a cease-fire agreement meant to free hostages and bring some relief to the Palestinians in the besieged enclave. But in a meeting with families of hostages being held by the terrorists in Gaza, Netanyahu said: "We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate Hamas' battalions there – with or without a deal – to achieve the total victory."
Jan Markell is founder and director of Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries and host of the radio program Understanding the Times. She argues Israel has no choice: to survive as a nation, "she's got to get rid of the enemy."
"Just as if we had enemies on the border, north and south of America, we would be trying to destroy them," she tells AFN. "They [Israel] have to destroy the enemy; Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, all of these outfits – they're all dedicated to not just hurting Israel but the complete destruction of Israel. She has no choice but to go after the snake and cut its head off – so, that's what she's going to do."
According to Markell, Netanyahu has the support of the Israeli people.
"You've got the Israeli Left, just like we have the Left in America and anywhere else; and like any leftists anywhere, the Israeli Left are nutty – so, you've got that factor there," she describes.
"But by and large, the Israeli people are supportive of Benjamin Netanyahu because he is dedicated to the survival of Israel and the destruction of their enemies. And if you get a leftist in power in Israel, they're going to try to make peace and they're going to cave on all of this."
Comments from Jan Markell added after story was originally posted.
