Why Israel might want to retaliate against Iran

It’s easy to state a compelling case against the idea that Israel should strike Iran after Iran’s weekend drone and missile attack. Iran’s assault failed, spectacularly. Its vaunted long-range arsenal proved ineffective (at least in that strike), and the attack itself rallied Israel’s allies to its aid. American, British and even Jordanian forces intervened to protect Israel.

Iran’s true promise of terror: A dud of an attack that meant to murder

Operation True Promise, Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, a blatant act of war and the first-ever direct assault by Tehran on the Jewish state, was the most monumental flop in the history of combat, more embarrassing than the Spanish Armada or the Charge of the Light Brigade or Custer’s Last Stand.

Iran’s attack failed. Its threat to peace remains

Though largely thwarted by Israel and its allies, the assault launched by Iran against the Jewish state over the weekend was a powerful reminder that the Tehran regime remains the biggest threat to peace in the Middle East. Israel’s security would be best served now through resolve and restraint, rather than military escalation. Iranian leaders tried to portray Saturday’s attack as a proportional response to a presumed Israeli strike that killed a top Iranian commander and several advisers in Damascus, Syria, on April 1. The operation involved more than 300 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, with Iran attacking Israel from its own territory for the first time. The assault dramatically increased the risk of a regionwide war, even if Iran hoped the matter was now “concluded.”

Government incompetence is keeping kids out of college

President Joe Biden’s botched rollout of a revamped financial aid form reveals a stunning lack of managerial competence. It has left colleges unable to tell millions of students how much they’ll have to pay, causing some to delay enrolling and others to drop the idea altogether. This easily avoidable failure threatens to deprive low-income Americans of a college education. And Biden, the country’s chief executive, needs to hold to account the officials who are directly responsible.

The hush money trial transcripts must be published

O.J. Simpson’s death reminds us that the 134 days of wall-to-wall TV coverage of his 1995 criminal trial allowed Americans to see every aspect of a celebrity case play out in a Los Angeles courtroom. Millions watched and millions of others didn’t, but the choice was theirs.

Trump’s abortion talk con job

In a video address yesterday, former President Donald Trump reiterated the reality that states are currently in charge of determining abortion restrictions, a statement that was widely misinterpreted as his support for a state-based approach. That’s just how he wanted it, winking to his anti-choice supporters while muddying the waters on whether he will seek nationwide abortion restrictions that he knows are hugely unpopular.

Other countries restrict breeding ‘Frankendogs.’ The US should follow suit

Lawmakers around the world are proposing legislation that would spare dogs “torture breeding” — reckless practices that intentionally produce deformities such as dangerously flattened faces or abnormally elongated spines. Germany began cracking down on torture breeding back in 1986, and a new bill would strengthen the country’s existing regulations. Austria, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland have enacted similar laws — for good reason.

A just housing policy restores dignity to people experiencing homelessness

A recent report from Santa Clara County in California highlights a troubling trend: Despite housing more people than ever before in a single year, the rate of new people falling into homelessness spiked by 24% in 2023. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2023 homelessness assessment report shows a 12% national increase, with over 650,000 people experiencing homelessness, the highest numbers recorded since the Point-in-Time Count began in 2007.