What next for Israel in its war with Iran?

Here is the Washington Post’s editorial board’s view on who is to blame for the current conflict between Israel and Iran:

Israel’s [recent] strike came in response to an Iranian barrage of 180 ballistic missiles launched against Israeli territory on Oct. 1, which, in turn, was Iran’s way of responding to Israel’s assassination of key figures in Iran’s security forces and proxy militias, including Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran itself.

In the Post’s view, then, the original sin here is Israel’s assassination of key terrorists, especially the assassination of that Hamas chief on Iranian soil. Oddly, I don’t recall the Post having a problem with the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan — a feat still lauded by Joe Biden although he opposed the operation at the time. And Pakistan wasn’t even an avowed enemy of the U.S.

The real original sin, of course, is Iran supplying Hamas with the means to massacre Israelis and the massacre itself. Captured documents show that Hamas informed Iran of its intentions to do something big against Israel. (Whether Iran knew specifically about the planned Oct. 7 massacre remains unclear.)

Iran also subsidized Hezbollah’s bombardment of Israel that drove around 70,000 Israelis from their homes. This, too, was before Israel took direct action against Iranians or on Iranian soil.

The Post’s moral equivalency (at best) between Israel and Iran informs the rest of the editorial in which it appears. The Post’s main point is that Israel demonstrated “calculated restraint” in its recent strike on Iran. The editors are pleased, but not inclined to give Israel credit.

Instead, they credit Joe Biden.