'Now is the time': Former defense minister Gantz pushes for strike on Iran

Benny Gantz, Israel’s former defense minister, compared the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas to the recent rocket attacks from Iran in an opinion piece published by The New York Times.

In the NYT article, he delved into the question: "A year later, one must ask: What were Hamas’s leaders hoping for, and what are Iran’s leaders seeking to achieve?"

Three rationales behind Hamas's attack:

Gantz wrote that the first factor was JIhadi fanaticism. This was the component that the IDF underestimated, a senior Israel Defense Forces intelligence commander said to Gantz in the early days of the war, referring to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader.

Secondly, Hamas assessed that Israel's internal issues were a sign of weakness, believing that at Israel's weakest, we would not be capable of uniting and reacting effectively to an attack, Gantz said. 

Third was loyalty to Iran and its axis of evil. Gantz cited as evidence a document reportedly found in Gaza, written by a Hamas leader on Jan. 8, 2023, that Hamas planned to join together with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and the Shiite militias in Syria, Iraq, and Iran —in a regional war with the ultimate goal of destroying the  Jewish state.

Gantz continued that Iran's leadership is similar to Hamas in many ways. They, too, are focused on spreading their fundamentalist ideology and seeking dominance, often through violent means.  

He also saw that both Iran and Hamas share the same ambition: to annihilate Israel. 

A warning against Iran

Gantz said that he hoped that other nations would not make the same mistake in underestimating Iran as Israel had done with Hamas.

He expressed concerns that Iran is preparing and waiting for the right moment to strike as it did so in Lebanon, using Hezbollah to exploit the state’s economic hardships to strengthen the organization’s power.

Iran did the same in Syria and then in Yemen as well, taking advantage of the lack of political leadership and the dire humanitarian conditions, and is currently expanding its reach. 

In the NYT opinion piece, Gantz wrote that since October 7, both Israel and the world must remain proactive in addressing the threat posed by the Iranian regime to Israel’s existence and the region’s future.

Gantz expressed that the world must not ignore Iran's impact on Red Sea commerce or its support for Russia in Ukraine. A strong, united Middle East, backed by the US, must act to prevent the realization of the Iranian vision of a regional attack like Oct. 7.

Now is the time to confront Iran

On the military side, Gantz wrote that governments should take strong and proactive action against Iranian aggression and systematically weaken its proxy forces.

This is the responsibility Israel has undertaken in the past weeks in its military action against Hezbollah and the Houthis. As it weighs how to respond to Iran’s latest missile attack on Tuesday, Gantz said.

In Gantz's opinion, he said governments must also prepare for the right moment to remove the threat of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, should that clear red line be crossed.

On the regional side, he said we must strengthen the regional architecture based on the Middle Eastern Air Defense (MEAD) mechanism and the Abraham Accords.

Gantz advised the continued development of coordination among Middle Eastern air forces while exploring the possibility of deploying offensive coordination if necessary.

Regarding the economic perspective, he wrote nations must cease the funding of terrorism by strengthening sanctions, targeting critical Iranian industries, and pursuing assets abroad.

On the legal side, Gantz stated that governments that have not already done so should place the Islamic Republic and its branches, including the Revolutionary Guards, on their terrorist lists.

From a political perspective, Gantz concluded that nations should empower the Iranian opposition and isolate the Iranian regime in major international forums.

In the NYT opinion article, Gantz acknowledged that such a united effort will require time and resources.

Israel, like Ukraine and Taiwan, is a democracy facing threats from powerful forces that aim to undermine them. Gantz said that if one of these nations falls, it could trigger a chain reaction, forcing other countries in the region to pick sides in the conflict, potentially leading to larger geopolitical consequences.

Israel experienced a painful tragedy on October 7 but also underwent a significant awakening.  Now, Gantz believes Israel is responsible for sharing the lesson with the world. A fundamentalist terrorist state cannot acquire lethal capabilities and be expected to act rationally, as we once expected of Hamas.

Gantz said in the NYT opinion article, as someone who has served as Israel’s defense minister and the 20th chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, he believes Israel is the strongest nation in the Middle East, fighting a just war for the nation’s future and its citizens, and that’s why it will emerge victorious.

He stressed in the NYT article that the time to act against Iran is now.

He commented that it was not only necessary for Israel but also a strategic imperative for the region and moral clarity for the world for the sake of peace and prosperity in the Middle East.