There is an active debate going on about the proper role of the U.S. in Israel’s conflict with Iran. Some people are supportive of the current U.S. approach of helping Israel but not directly engaging Iran offensively; others don’t think we should be supporting Israel at all. It’s the latter crowd that I’d like to respond to in this post — those who don’t think we should be defending Israel against missile attacks or supplying the Israelis with the bombs that are helping to make their campaign against Iran a success.

The way I would suggest thinking about it is this: In the decades since it was taken over by Islamists in 1979, Iran has routinely provided financing, weapons, and support to terrorist proxies who have targeted Americans and our military assets. Iran-backed Hezbollah carried out the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. service members; Iran-backed militias killed 603 U.S. troops in Iraq (according to 2019 Pentagon figures); U.S. intelligence agencies found that Iran offered bounties to Taliban fighters who targeted U.S. troops in Afghanistan; last year, a drone attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan killed three Americans; and for years Iran-backed Houthis attacked U.S. ships. This is just a sampling of the extent to which Iran has gone after the U.S., consistent with the regime’s rallying cry of “Death to America.”

So the question is, if Iran for decades has provided direction and support for proxies killing Americans, why should the U.S. hesitate to support Israel? If, by providing diplomatic cover and weapons and helping to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles threatening not only Israelis but also Americans and U.S. assets within Israel, it allows Israel to inflict pain on Iran — just as Iran has inflicted pain on the U.S. and frustrated our foreign policy — why is that something Americans should oppose?